Upper Montclair, NJ (12/7/02) - Freshman EBONY ALLEN (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) scored 19 points and senior JASMINE BATTS (Carteret, NJ/Carteret) added 17 as Montclair State rallied from 12 points down in the second half to defeat Rowan University, 63-60 in New Jersey Athletic Conference Women's Basketball action on Saturday afternoon.

DYETTE DILLARD (Willingboro, NJ/Willingboro) came off the bench to score 10 points, including a pair of three pointers as MSU (4-1, 2-1 NJAC) outscored the Profs (2-3, 1-2 NJAC) 24-9 over the last nine minutes of the game. Stephanie Finke (Wood Ridge, NJ/Paramus Catholic) had 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Profs, who committed 36 turnovers in the game.

Montclair trailed 51-39 with 9:52 left before embarking on an 11-0 run over the next 90 seconds. Allen scored four straight points and VANESSA DEFREITAS (Kearny, NJ/Kearny) had a steal and layup to cut the lead to 51-45. Allen then hit a short jumper before Dillard buried a three-pointer from 27 feet to pull the Red Hawks within one. Rowan's Melissa Wallace (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) stopped the run with a basket, but Dillard again nailed a three to tie the game at 53-53 with 3:46 to play. From there the game seesawed until the last 25 seconds.

Tied at 59-59, Batts hit a pair of free throws to give Montclair the lead with 10 seconds to go, but Chrissy DeMarco (Turnersville, NJ/Gloucester Catholic) was fouled at the other end with eight seconds. However, DeMarco made one of two free throws to make the score 61-60 in favor of Montclair. DeFreitas hit two foul shots for a 63-60 MSU lead with eight seconds remaining. Staci Minuskin's (Howell, NJ/Howell) three-point attempt at the buzzer fell short.

DeFreitas finished with six points and nine assists while ERIN SCHULTZ (West Milford, NJ/West Milford) had seven points. Kami Bernardo (Roebling, NJ/Florence Township Memorial) had 13 points and four rebounds for the Profs, who forced 32 turnovers and shot 44 percent (22-of-50) in the game, including 55 percent (11-of-20).