Women's Basketball | 2/23/2017 10:25:00 PM

Montclair, NJ – Call it a "Drive for Five" or "One for the Thumb", but for the Montclair State women's basketball team it's just a chance to win another championship. That's what the Red Hawks are gunning for when it hosts Rutgers-Newark in the NJAC Championship Game at the Panzer Athletic Center on Saturday, February 25.

Tip-off of the conference title game is set for 1:00 pm with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship which begins next Friday, March 3.

Tickets for the game are $5 for general admission and $2 for students, children and seniors. You can also catch the game on live video, live stats and live play-by-play call on WMSC 90.3 and wmscradio.com.

It is perhaps one of the most unlikely matchups in conference tournament history as the top-seeded Red Hawks (24-2), winners of the last four NJAC crowns, face a red-hot sixth-seeded Scarlet Raider team that has made an improbable run to the championship game. Rutgers-Newark run to the final has gone through No. 3 seed Stockton, a 65-62 win last Saturday and a 77-71 victory at No. 2 seed Kean in the semifinals on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Montclair State, which received a first-round bye, defeated No. 4 seed Rowan 76-67 at home the same evening.

Both teams are looking to pull off a "first" with a victory on Saturday. For Rutgers-Newark it would be their first conference championship and with a current record of 12-15, they would be the first team to make the NCAA Tournament with a sub-.500 record since St. Scholastica in 2013. On the other side, Montclair State is looking to join Kean as the only teams to capture five consecutive NJAC title. The Cougars won the first nine league crowns from 1983-1991.

Montclair State won the two regular-season meetings by identical 13-point margins. The Red Hawks went into the Golden Dome in early December and posted a 62-49 victory. NJAC Player of the Year KATIE SIRE posted a double-double of 19 points and 11 rebounds while RACHAEL KRAUSS added 10 points along with eight rebounds as MSU never
trailed in the contest.

A month later, KATE TOBIE registered her second consecutive double-double with 17 points and 11 assists in a 69-56 victory at the Panzer Athletic Center. MSU grabbed a 19-8 lead after one quarter and then fended off several charges from the Scarlet Raiders over the final three periods.

The loss left Rutgers-Newark at 6-12 on the season, 4-7 in the NJAC. But since then the Raiders have won six of their last nine games, including three straight must-win contests. Rutgers-Newark beat TCNJ 52-38 in the regular-season finale to earn the final berth in the tournament. The Red Hawks come into the title game having won six in a row since falling to Stockton 68-65 in overtime on January 30.

Senior guard Maria Simmons leads the way for the Scarlet Raiders as she tops the team in virtually every category. The 5-4 Simmons, a First-Team All-NJAC selection, is averaging 18.6 points and 7.6 rebounds while dishing out 148 assists (5.7 per game) and recording 80 steals. Her numbers are even more impressive during the last three games where she is scoring at 22.0 point per game clip and 9.0 rebounds including a pair of double-double performances. Simmons scored 25 points and grabbed 11 boards in the win over Kean on Wednesday. Sophomore guard FAITH ASHBY is second to Simmons with 15.7 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

Montclair State counters with a balanced lineup that had all five starters averaging seven points and four rebounds apiece. Sire, who had a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds versus Rowan, leads the team in scoring and rebounding at 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds. Senior guard RACHAEL KRAUSS is next at 9.5 points which increased following her 25-point performance on Wednesday that included a single-game record eight three-point field goals. ZOE CURTIS is at 9.0 points and five rebounds with KATE TOBIE chipping in at 8.3 points and 5.5 assists per contest. Senior SAGE BENNETT completes the lineup with numbers of 6.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.