Game Highlights

NEWARK, N.J. (December 2, 2015) - The Rutgers University-Newark women's basketball team suffered a 69-51 New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) loss at the hands of 12th-ranked Montclair State University Wednesday night in The Golden Dome Arena.

Rutgers-Newark drops to 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the conference, while Montclair improves to 3-0 in the NJAC and 5-1 overall. The Scarlet Raiders will return to the hardwood at The College of New Jersey for another conference contest Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m.

Junior guard Maria Simmons, junior guard Shala Glenn and senior guard Arianna Williams were all in double figures for the hosts.

The nationally-ranked Red Hawks came out clicking, scoring the first 14 points of the game and taking a 27-11 lead into the second quarter. Williams and Glenn each tallied four early points for the Scarlet Raiders, and after the rough start, R-N outscored the Red Hawks 8-6 over the final 3:36 of the opening quarter.

Montclair was able to extend to a 42-16 lead midway through the second after its eighth three-pointer of the first 15 minutes, hitting on nine in the first half in all.

Simmons scored 12 of the Scarlet Raiders' first 22 points of the half, but the guests were able to build a 47-22 lead to take into the break.

Rutgers-Newark battled hard in the third, playing solid defense and outscoring MSU, 15-9, getting within 19 to start the final stanza. Glenn scored six of the Raider points, sophomore forward Nikki Sammartino battled on the glass, and R-N defense allowed just four made field goals in 10 minutes.

A three-point play from Sammartino to open the fourth pulled Rutgers-Newark with 16 (56-40), but a 7-2 MSU run pushed the margin back over 20 (63-42), slowing the bubbling Raider momentum. R-N finished strong and hard to keep the margin under 20, and despite the very tough start, the Scarlet Raiders played MSU relatively evenly over the game's final 35 minutes. Rutgers outscored MSU 29-22 in the second half.

Simmons finished with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Williams tallied 13 points, nine rebounds, five steals, three assists and three blocked shots in what was a very strong all-around performance. Glenn had 12 points, three rebounds and two steals, and Sammartino had nine points and eight boards.

Rutgers-Newark shot 36.7 percent (18-for-49) from the field, 1-for-9 from deep and 14-for-24 at the stripe. The Scarlet Raiders tallied 38 rebounds, seven assists, 11 steals and five blocked shots. MSU had 39 rebounds, 14 steals and 21 assists, committing eight less turnovers than the hosts (19-27). The Red Hawks shot 26-for-68 (38.2 percent) from the floor, 12-for-32 (37.5 percent) from deep and 5-for-7 at the line.

The Red Hawks were led by Kayla Ceballos who scored 17 points, getting 12 from Zoe Curtis and 13 from Katie Sire.