Montclair, NJ – Junior guard Julia Sutton scored 22 points as top-seeded Montclair State rolled past eighth-seeded Rutgers-Camden, 101-37 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 NJAC Tournament at the Panzer Athletic Center.
The Red Hawks (7-1) will face fifth-seeded Kean University at home on Friday, March 12. The Cougars knocked off fourth-seeded Rutgers-Newark, 77-44 to set up a third meeting with MSU. Montclair swept the season set on February 12-13 winning 67-46 at home and 73-62 in Union the following day.
For the Scarlet Raptors which ended their season at 0-6.
MSU saw 14 different players register points as it set a program record for point scored in an NJAC Tournament games surpassing the previous high of 83 against Rutgers-Newark in the 2013 semifinals. Kelly Smith, Taylor Brown, Trisha Peterson, Kayla Bush and Saniya Meyers each had eight points.
Montclair outscored Rutgers-Camden 24-7 in the opening quarter as it shot 53 percent from the floor, including three makes from behind the arc. After trading baskets to open the game, Trisha Peterson drained a three-pointer putting the Red Hawks in front sparking an 18-2 run. Peterson had eight of those points with five different players each contributing a basket as the lead grew to 20-4 on a Kayla Bush layup with 2:39 to go in the opening quarter.
The Red Hawks continued their torrid scoring pace in the second with a 14-2 run to open the quarter. Senior Taylor Brown scored six points with a jumper by Kendall Hodges capping the spurt with a jumper as Montclair State's lead ballooned to 38-9 with 4:44 to go before halftime.
MSU led 44-13 at the break.
Peterson and Brown scored eight points apiece in the first half as Montclair State shot 18-of-36 from the field in the first 20 minutes Conversely, the Scarlet Raptors hot on just 5-of-29 attempts.
Sutton finished 8-of-10 from the field, including 6-of-7 from behind the arc and also pulled down four rebounds. Smith, Bush and Myers grabbed six caroms each with Brown handing out six assists.
Montclair finished the game shooting 55 percent (40-of-73) from the field, including 14-of-23 from three-point range (61 percent). The 14 makes from behind the arc were the second-highest single-game total in program history.