Camden, NJ – Freshman guard NICKIE CARTER scored 22 points in the first half on her way to career-best 32 as Montclair State locked up a first-round bye in the upcoming NJAC Tournament with a 74-59 victory at Rutgers-Camden on Wednesday evening.
Junior forward KAYLA BUSH added 15 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two blocks for the Red Hawks, who closed out their regular season at 20-5 overall, 15-3 in conference play. MSU will be the No. 2 seed and host a semifinal contest at the Panzer Athletic Center on Tuesday, February 25, at 7:00 pm.
Montclair would face the winner of Saturday's first-round matchup in Union, NJ, between third-seeded Kean University and No. 6 seed New Jersey City.
The Red Hawks took an early five-point lead but found itself down 13-7 midway through the period before outscoring the Scarlet Raptors 17-4 to take a seven-point advantage. TAYLOR BROWN ignited a 15-0 run with a layup and later hit back-to-back three-pointers putting MSU up 20-13. ALEX MCKINNON sank two from the line with Carter connecting from short range inside two minutes as Montclair led 24-17 heading to the second period.
Four straight points from Bush to begin the second widened the lead to 28-17. Fatimah Williams got Rutgers-Camden within 31-22 with 7:09 left, but Carter, who recorded 13 points in the quarter, answered with a three-pointer to spark an 18-7 run closing out the first half with Montclair State leading 49-29.
A Carter layup with 7:25 remaining in the third gave MSU its largest lead of the contest at 55-29. The Raptors would make a push in the fourth quarter, trimming the deficit to 69-57 on Abigail Sampona's layup with three minutes left. Bush put the game away for the Red Hawks with a layup at the other end and two foul shots with 90 seconds to go making it 73-57.
TAYLOR BROWN finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for Montclair State with KIM CALLOWAY and TRISHA PETERSON chipping in with six and five points, respectively. CERYS MACLELLAND grabbed a team-best 11 rebounds and handed out four assists.
Montclair's victory total this season mark the 18th time in program history that MSU registered 20 wins in a season and the seventh under head coach Karin Harvey.
