Glassboro, NJ – Senior
Nicosia Henry (Bolingbrook, IL, Bolingbrook) scored nine of her 13 points during a second-half blitz by No. 13 Montclair State as the Red Haws rebounded from its first conference loss in two seasons with a 77-55 win at Rowan on Thursday evening.
Junior forward
Melissa Tobie (Elizabeth, NJ, Roselle Catholic) had 24 points along with eight rebounds, five assists and three steals helping MSU (15-2, 9-1 NJAC) regain sole possession of first place in the league as it swept the season series from the Profs. Junior guard
Janitza Aquino (Kearny, NJ, Kearny) had 20 points for the Red Hawks.
Montclair shot 50 percent in the first half with Tobie and Aquino each getting 15 points however a 53-percent shooting effort from the Profs helped keep Rowan in striking distance. The Red Hawks led 26-11 with 11:25 left in the opening half before Rowan trimmed the lead back to a point, 30-29 with 5:27 left. Tobie answered with a three-pointer and Henry later made a steal and layup to boost the Montclair lead back to six points as MSU led 42-36 at the break.
In the second half the Red Hawk defense clamped down allowing just 19 points over the final 20 minutes as it also took advantage of 7-of-25 (28 percent) shooting by Rowan and 19 turnovers which led to 19 points off the miscues.
Aquino began the 24-6 spurt to open the half with a jumper and later connected from behind the arc giving Montclair State a 51-40 lead with 16:52 to play. The Red Hawks scored the next 15 points, seven by Henry with Tobie adding five expanding the Montclair lead to 66-42 with 10:31 remaining.
Henry finished with a double-double grabbing 10 rebounds in addition to getting four steals as MSU totaled 18 in the game
Kayla Ceballos (Brooklyn, NY, Christ the King) had nine points ,five rebounds and three assists with junior
Jenny Malone (North Plainfield, NJ, Roselle Catholic) handing out six assists along with three steals.
Montclair State returns to action on Saturday, January 25 with a home NJAC contest against Rutgers-Newark with tipoff slated for 3:00 pm.
