Montclair, NJ – Junior KATIE SIRE scored 14 points, grabbed five rebounds and handed out five assists as No. 13 Montclair State used a strong third quarter to pull away from William Paterson for an 81-61 victory at the Panzer Athletic Center on Wednesday evening.

Senior guard RACHAEL KRAUSS led all scorers with 18 points helping Montclair State remain unbeaten on the year (8-0, 4-0 NJAC) while improving its winning streak to 12 games against its local rival. MSU leads the all-time series, 50-34.

Tori Woetzel and Julie Rovito each had 12 points for the Pioneers, who fell back to the .500 mark at 4-4 overall, 2-2 in conference play.

William Paterson's Sihana Asani hit a buzzer-beating three pointer to give the visitors at 16-15 lead after one period. The Pioneers held a 20-17 lead in the second as Janea Clark sank a pair of free throws. Krauss erased that deficit with back-to-back three-pointers putting MSU in front as Montclair led 31-28 at the break.

The Red Hawks broke the game open in the third quarter outscoring WPU 24-9 in the 10-minute period. KATE TOBIE, who finished with 11 points had nine, including two layups to open up and a three-pointer that made the score 38-32. Krauss drained another three and Tobie another layup extending the lead to nine before Montclair closed out the quarter with the last 10 points for a 55-37 lead heading into the fourth.

Tobie added three rebounds, seven assists and three steals with Krauss and SAGE BENNETT (7 points) each collecting three steals. YAZMINE LACEY had six points and five rebounds off the bench with sophomore Dominique Wirsing added six points and four boards. TIARRA DILLARD added seven points with ALEX MCKINNON posting six along with three rebounds and three assists.

Montclair State is back in action on Saturday, December 10 in Glassboro, NJ against Rowan University at 1:00 pm. It will be the first meeting between the teams since last season's NJAC Championship Game won by the Red Hawks at the Panzer Athletic Center.