Women's Basketball | 3/9/2018 10:13:00 AM
Montclair, NJ – They say to be the best, you have to beat the best. That's exactly what the Montclair State women's basketball team faces on Friday evening when the Red Hawks take on defending national champion Amherst College in the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Sectional Tournament.
The Red Hawks (25-3) square off against the top-ranked and undefeated Mammoths (29-0) at 7:00 pm. It's a battle of Rochester schools in the first game at 5pm when University of Rochester (23-4) takes on Rochester Institute of Technology (23-6). The winners advance to Saturday's Sectional Final where a berth in the NCAA Division III Final Four will be on the line.
Montclair is making its fourth appearance in the NCAA Sectional and first in three years. The Red Hawks reached this round in 2013, 2014 and 2015 en route to its Final Four appearance. MSU earned its way into this weekend after knocking off Old Westbury 90-69 and Gettysburg College 70-45 in the First and Second Rounds at the Panzer Athletic Center.
Meanwhile the Mammoths have been just that this season – Mammoth. Amherst enters Friday's game having won 62 straight games, including a 33-0 march toward the 2017 national title. Amherst hasn't lost since falling to Thomas More in the NCAA semifinals in 2016. Included in their 29 wins this season was a dominant 61-12 win over Becker in the first round at home last Friday. The 12 points were the fewest points in a game allowed by one team in NCAA Division III Tournament history. Amherst got past St. Joseph's College (ME) 53-47 the next night to advance to the Sweet 16.
Amherst currently leads the nation in scoring defense allowing 38.2 points per contest and have held their opponents to 40 points or less 19 times this season. The Mammoths have limited their opponents to just 27.6 percent shooting from the field and 24.9 percent from three-point range. On the flip side, the Mammoths are averaging 61.1 points per game with First-Team NESCAC selections Madeline Eck and Hannah Fox leading the way at 11.9 and 11.2 points per game respectively. Emma McCarthy is next at 9.3 points with Hannah Hackley averaging 8.3 points along with 3.2 assists per game. McCarthy leads the team in rebounding at 6.8 per contest with Eck (5.3) and Fox (5.4) right behind.
But if there's one team that could stand up to the challenge it would be Montclair State led by its senior group of
KATIE SIRE,
KATE TOBIE and
TAYLOR HARMON. The trio, who were an integral part of the 2015 Final Four squad, have led the Red Hawks to a 104-15 record the last four seasons and have proven to be battle-tested over that time.
Sire, the two-time NJAC Player of the Year, has scored over 600 points, becoming 1
st player to accomplish that since Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Carol Blazejowski in 1978. The six-time NJAC Player of the Week is averaging 21.7 points per game (9
th in D3), 8.8 rebounds per games, 2.4 assists and 2.5 steals while shooting .511 from the floor and .821 at the free throw line with 26 three-point field goals. A 1,700-point scorer in her career, Sire led the NJAC in scoring and ranked in the Top 10 in four other categories while registering eight double-double performances.
Tobie, a First-Team All-NJAC selection is averaging 9.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 7.1 assists the latter numbers currently No. 2 in Division III. She also led the NJAC in assist-turnover ratio (+1.8) and her 178 assists in 2018 is the 2
nd-best season total in program history. Tobie became the 3
rd player in program to surpass 500 assists (currently 2
nd at 558) and she handed out six or more assists in 18 of 25 games reaching double-digits in assists five times.
Harmon, named to the All-NJAC Second Team, is averaging 12.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting .446 from the field and .647 at the free throw line. She has scored in double digits in 22 of 28 games posting a double-double performance of 16 points and 10 rebounds versus Stevens. Harmon averaged 15.8 points and 5.3 rebounds while shooting .482 from the field in Montclair's run through the NJAC Tournament and first two rounds of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship.
Montclair led the NJAC in scoring defense (52.1 ppg), scoring margin (+13.0), field goal percentage (.433), 3pt defense (.220) this season while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (.342). The Red Hawks lead Division III in 3pt field goal percentage defense and are 28
th in scoring defense. MSU has held their opponents to 55 points or less 14 times this season.
Friday's game will also feature as good a coaching matchup as there is in the Sectional Round.
Amherst's GP Gormacki is in his 11
th season and has compiled an amazing 324-24 record since taking over in 2007. Those numbers include two Division III titles (2011, 2017), eight NESCAC championships and numerous Coach of the Year honors including WBCA Coach of the Year and a seventh NESAC honor in 2018, his third consecutive award.
Montclair's Karin Harvey is also in her 11
th season and has turned the Red Hawks into a national contender. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Harvey is 247-69 at Montclair State leading MSU to six of its nine NCAA Tournament appearances. Harvey has also guided the Red Hawks to six straight NJAC Championships, the second-longest streak in league history. She too has plenty of hardware to show for her accomplishments including three WBCA District Coach of the Year honors and four straight NJAC Coach of the Year awards. Harvey earned her fourth straight selection from the conference coaches in 2018.
