Montclair, NJ (1/25/06) – Junior forward STEPHANIE MACHIN scored a career-best 31 points and reached the 1,000-point plateau in her career as Montclair State knocked off backyard rival William Paterson, 64-61 in New Jersey Athletic Conference Women's Basketball action at Panzer Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.

Machin became the 14th player in MSU history to reach the mark as the Red Hawks (11-6, 9-2 NJAC) won their fourth straight and stayed atop the conference standings with the win. MSU also avenged a 74-63 loss to the Lady Pioneers back in November. Machin now has 1,019 points in her three seasons with the Red Hawks.

Janell Fabor had 20 points and seven rebounds for WPU (10-7, 6-5 NJAC), which has dropped its last two.

Montclair led 32-24, but the Lady Pioneers quickly erased that deficit with a 14-6 run that tied the game at 38-38 as Michelle Pellichero drained a three-pointer with 15:11 to play. Meghan Kelly would put MSU back in front, 44-43 with a layup near the 11-miute mark, but William Paterson answered with 8-0 run to pull ahead 51-44 on Fabor's jumper with 8:26 left.

The Red Hawks then swung the momentum back their way with a 15-2 run over the next seven minutes. JESSICA GARRABRANT began the spurt with a pair of free throws and Kelly's layup with 4:41 to play put MSU in front for good. FERIN CATLETT added a layup and Machin hit a foul shot for a four-point lead, 55-51 Alima Williams countered for the Lady Pioneers, but Machin scored six of the game's next nine point as Montclair built a 63-56 advantage with 34 seconds left.

Machin, who bested her previous career-high of 26 set last season, needed 12 points to reach the millennium mark and got 11 in the first half. The junior then scored on a layup 50 seconds into the half. She grabbed six rebounds as she went 12-of-20 from the field and 7-of-11 at the foul line. MICHELLE MADEJ had eight points and four assists while Garrabrant grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Luci Custis had 16 points and seven rebounds while Pelichero had 10 points. The Lady Pioneers bounced back from a 27 percent shoot first half and finished at 36 percent for the game (24-of-67). Williams had nine points, nine rebounds and three steals.

Montclair State returns to action on Saturday, January 28 as MSU hosts Rutgers-Newark at Pazner Gym in a 2:00 pm NJAC matchup. William Paterson is also in action that day hosting Richard Stockton at 3:00 pm.