Montclair, NJ – Senior guard
JANITZA AQUINO scored 18 points, becoming the 19
th player in Montclair State history to record 1,000 career points as the No. 10/11 Red Hawks scored the first 15 points on its way to 86-58 victory over Moravian College on Monday evening.
Senior forward
MELISSA TOBIE added 16 points, one of four players to reach double figures as the Red Hawks remained unbeaten at 5-0, the third straight season MSU has opened the year with five consecutive victories.
Starting a stretch in which they play five games in a 10-day span, Montclair State got off to as good a start as it could get opening up a 15-point lead in the first 2:46 of the game.
SAGE BENNETT and
KATIE SIRE each had two points before Aquino scored four in a row for an 8-0 lead with 18:08 left. Sire added a three-point play to get the lead to double figures before buckets from Bennett and Tobie gave MSU a 15-0 lead with 17:14 remaining.
The lead would remain above 10 points and reached as high as 17 before the Greyhounds were able to cut the deficit to 38-29 with 2:38 left on a pair of free throws by Taylor Freeman. Sire and
KATE TOBIE combined on final four MSU points as the Red Hawks held a 42-31 lead at the break.
MSU shot 52 percent in the first half (19-of-36) and was able to turn 13 turnovers by Moravian into 18 points.
Moravian would draw as close as 10 points early in the second half on Alexis Wright's layup with 17:57 to go however
KAYLA CEBALLOS answered that with a three pointer and the lead ballooned to 72-48 with 6:33 left as Bennett finished off a fast break. At that point, the only thing left for MSU would be getting Aquino to the magic number 1,000. That would happen with 5:01 to play as a steal by
ERICA SNOW turned into a fast break layup for Aquino for a 76-50 advantage.
Bennett finished with 13 points and eight rebounds along with a pair of blocks for Montclair State, which got seven boards, two assists, six blocks and four steals by
MELISSA TOBIE, who did her damage in 19 minutes of action. Ceballos grabbed 12 rebounds and scored nine points as did
JASMINE BRANDON. Sire finished with 10 points and six rebounds.
Ten different Red Hawks scored in the game as Montclair shot 51 percent for the game (37-of-73) while outrebounding the Greyhounds 45-35, including 16 on the offensive glass.
After opening the season with five consecutive road games, the Red Hawks will be at home for the first time on Wednesday, December 3 taking on Rutgers-Newark at 6:00 pm in an NJAC matchup.
