Montclair, NJ – Sophomore guard Damaris Rodriguez hit an eight-foot floater from the left side at the buzzer, lifting sixth-seeded New Jersey City to a 68-67 victory over No. 3 seed Montclair State in the NJAC Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinals on Tuesday evening.

Rodriguez finished with a game-high 28 points and six assists, and four rebounds as the defending champion Gothic Knights (11-9) advance to the semifinals on Thursday, February 24, at second-seeded Rowan University.

Senior guard JULIA SUTTON had 20 points and led four players in double figures for Montclair State, which ended its season at 14-10. Senior RYLEE MULLIGAN posted 12 points, as did sophomore guard KENDALL HODGES.

The buzzer-beater by Rodriguez capped off a wild ending that saw NJCU battle back from a 10-point deficit over the final eight minutes. Sutton's three-pointer gave MSU a 59-49 lead; however, the Knights trimmed that deficit back to 59-53 three minutes later. Sutton boosted the lead back to 61-53, but again New Jersey City responded with six in a row, the last a three-pointer by Jada Camacho with 3:02 to go making the score 61-59.

Sutton would come up with another three-pointer with 2:32 remaining as Montclair led 64-59. Rodriguez answered that with a layup at the other end and then drilled a three-pointer with 1:39 left, knotting the score at 64-64. Hodges countered for MSU with a layup to put the Red Hawks back in front before Tahirah Kelley tied it again with 51 seconds on a layup.

The Red Hawks would miss at the other end, but Carter stole the ball back with 25 seconds. Montclair ran the clock down within 10 seconds following a pair of timeouts. Sutton drove to the lane and was fouled with three ticks to play. She missed the first but made the second for a 67-66 advantage.

NJCU would call a timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt. Rodriguez drove along the left sideline to the baseline off the inbounds feed before letting go a shot that went through the bottom of the net for the game-winner.

Camacho finished with 15 points, eight rebounds, and five steals for NJCU, which got eight points from Lyiah Allen. Laney Fox and Jimmirah Johnson recorded sixth points apiece. Johnson and Fox pulled down seven and six rebounds, respectively.

Senior TRISHA PETERSON totaled eight points and 13 rebounds, with junior guard NICKIE CARTER registering 11 points and seven assists.