Box Score
MONTCLAIR, NJ – Junior center
Jewell Palmer notched a double-double with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, but unbeaten and top-seeded Montclair State knocked the Rutgers-Newark out of the New Jersey Athletic Conference Championship, 83-55, in the Panzer Athletic Center.
The Raiders (18-9) got the first basket of the game on a Palmer layup before the Red Hawks (26-0) reeled off a 17-1 run fueled by nine points and three steals by junior guard Nicosia Henry to make it 17-3 with 12:21 left in the period.
The MSU lead grew to 35-15 on a 3-point jumper by freshman guard Jen Kuczynski and the Red Hawks carried a 39-21 lead into the halftime break. Henry tallied all of her 16 points and made four of her five steals in the opening 20 minutes while sophomore guard Janitza Aquino added 10 of her game-high 20 points.
Down 24 points in the second half, the Raiders used an 11-1 run fueled completely by freshman guards
Maria Simmons and
Laura Shakiri. Simmons started the rally with a 3-point jumper before adding a layup and three free throws before Shakiri nailed a trey with 4:08 left to make it 69-55. But that was as close the Rutgers-Newark would come as MSU pulled away to lead by 28 at the finish.
Sophomore forward
Jade Howard tallied 12 points and seven rebounds for the Raiders while Simmons added eight points and three assists. Junior forward
Jasmine Daniels chipped in eight points while Shakiri came off the bench to knock down two 3-point jumpers and snare five rebounds.
Senior forward Taylor Jeffers totaled 16 points for MSU while sophomore forward Melissa Tobie netted 11 points and dished off a game-high seven assists. Freshman guard Shalette Brown notched nine points and nine rebounds.
Rutgers-Newark now will have to wait for a probable invitation to the ECAC Metro Championship Tournament. The bracket will be announced on Monday afternoon with the opening round set for Wednesday.
MSU will host William Paterson, a 55-39 winner over The College of New Jersey in the other semifinal game, at 2 p.m. on Saturday for the NJAC title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament.
