Rochester, NY (11/19/10) - Freshman guard THERESA TOWNS (Morristown, NJ / Morristown) scored 17 points and handed out seven assists as Montclair State outlasted Mount St. Mary (NY) 72-65 in the opening round of the Chuck Resler Tournament at University of Rochester's Palestra on Friday evening.

Senior forward KISANDRA AYANBEKU (Brockton, NJ / Randolph) added 15 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals for the Red Hawks (1-1), who now move into th championship game on Saturday, November 20 against Rochester or Ithaca College at 6:00 pm.

Montclair State led for most of the game and tooke a 35-32 lead at halftime as junior JAIME ERICSON (Flemington, NJ / Hunterdon Central) sank a three-pointer with one second remaining as the Red Hawks took their three-point advantage into the locker room.

The lead would grow to nine points as TAYLOR JEFFERS (Franklin Township, NJ / Franklin) connected on a jumper with 14:26 left for a 44-35 lead. Mount St. mary would battle back tying the game at 50-50 before a layup by Ayanbeku at the 9:24 mark put MSU ahead for good.

That basket would ignite a 14-3 run by the Red Hawks as Ayanbeku had seven of those points with Sara Kelley (Newtown, CT / Newtown) draining a three-pointer to cap the run as the Red Hawks built a 64-53 lead with 3:55 to play.

Kelley finished with 12 points off the bench for Montclair, which outpointed Mt. St. Mary, 24-14 in the category for the game. Jeffers was the fourth player in double figures for MSU as she netted 10 points.