Jersey City, NJ (2/4/04) - Freshman center STEPHANIE MACHIN (New Providence, NJ/New Providence) posted a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds as Montclair State won its seventh straight game with a 65-59 victory over New Jersey City University in New Jersey Athletic Conference Women's Basketball action on Wednesday evening.

Sophomore forward EBONY ALLEN (Camden, NJ/Woodrow Wilson) added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Red Hawks (17-3, 7-2 NJAC), who remained tied for the lead in the Blue Division of the conference. The 17 wins by MSU this season are the most since it went 20-9 and won the ECAC Championship in 1999. Latrise McNair (Elizabeth, NJ/Elizabeth) had 18 points for the Gothic Knights (5-12, 0-9 NJAC) nearly erased and 14-point deficit in the second half.

Montclair State led for most of the game built a seemingly comfortable 49-35 lead with 10:11 to play as SHIKEENA LYNARD (Carney's Point, NJ/Penns Gove) drained a three-pointer. However, NJCU chipped away at the lead and pulled within 57-53 as Wynter Lightfoot (Haverstraw, NY/North Rockland (NY)) sank a three-pointer with 3:09 left. Machin answered with a jumper but Erin Raccioppi (Bayonne, NJ/Bayonne) scored four straight points to make the score 59-57 in favor of MSU with just 1:31 to go.

PAM BARONE (Staten Island, NY/St. John Villa) sank a pair of foul shots to boost the lead to 61-57 at the 1:06 mark, but Megan Kabba (Newark, NJ/Arts) countered with two free throws of her own to cut the lead back to two with 11 seconds remaining. From there, MSU closed the game with four straight free throws – two by DYETTE DILLARD (Willingboro, NJ/Willingboro) and two by Barone.

Barone finished with 10 points and four assists off the bench while Dillard added nine and AMY SNYDER (Cranford, NJ/Union Catholic) eight. The Red Hawks countered a 39 percent shooting effort (23-of-58), including 1-of-10 from three-point range, by connecting on 18-of-26 (69 percent) at the free-throw line. Dillard made all seven of her attempts while Barone was 6-of-7 and Allen 4-of-5. MSU also overcame 29 turnovers in the contest.

Lightfoot had 12 points for NJCU, which also got nine points and 11 rebounds from Raccioppi. The Gothic Knights also struggled from the floor making just 23-of-72 shots (31 percent), including 3-of-22 from behind the arc. NJCU was also outrebounded in the contest, 48-38.

Montclair State returns to action on Saturday, February 7 as it travels to Massachusetts to face Newbury College in its final non-conference matchup of the year. The Red Hawks return home to face The College of New Jersey on Wednesday, February 11 at 6:00 pm.