Montclair, NJ – The Montclair State women's basketball team (6-1, 3-1 NJAC) hosted Rutgers-Camden (6-5, 3-2 NJAC) for a Saturday NJAC slate, where the Red Hawks earned a 69-56 win over the Scarlet Raptors.
How It Happened

• The Red Hawks took advantage of early misses by Rutgers-Camden and used points from ALYSSA CRAIGWELL and ALEXIS STROLLO to jump out to a 7-0 lead in the first minute and 15 seconds of the contest. Camden battled back to cut the lead to 12-8 with just under half of the quarter remaining. A good jumper by Craigwell at the 3:52 mark sparked a 7-0 run that was halted by a deep ball by Rutgers-Camden and put the score at 19-11 heading into the second.
• Rutgers-Camden tried to close the gap, but two deep balls from SAMANTHA PHILIPP and one from Craigwell kept the distance and put the Red Hawks up 28-16 with 3:56 remaining in the half. Strollo hit a layup to extend the lead, before a made three and a free throw by the Scarlet Raptors cut the lead to 10. Buckets from Strollo and Hughes wrapped up the scoring in the second quarter, and the Red Hawks held a 34-20 advantage going into halftime.
• Much of the second half was a back-and-forth contest with no team able to generate a true run. ISABELLA ORLANDO, BELLA BRUCE, Craigwell, and Strollo each nabbed three points in the quarter, but the Red Hawks were outscored 17-12 in the quarter and cut the lead to nine with a score of 46-37 after three quarters of play.
• The fourth quarter saw a combined 42 points between both teams. No team was able to generate a true run, and Montclair never let Rutgers-Camden get to within single digits and allowed Montclair to secure the 69-56 win.

Inside the Numbers

• Craigwell notched her second double-double in the three games, leading the way with 20 points and 12 rebounds. She also tallied her fourth game of the season with 20 or more points. Alyssa also saw a season-high five assists.
• Bruce and Strollo each had a double-digit point performance with 15 and 13, respectively. Bruce also recorded five rebounds and four assists.
• Montclair is off to its best start since the 2018-19 season, when it went 7-1 to begin the year.

From the Court

• "Very happy with how we played today. Thought we did a really good job defensively, forcing them into some tough shots, and thought we shot well from the floor. We have built up some good momentum and are excited to carry it over into some really tough matchups down in Puerto Rico."  Head coach Karin Harvey

 
Up Next

• Montclair will head down to Puerto Rico to compete in the two-game Puerto Rico Clasico. They match up first with Redlands on Thursday, December 18 at 1:00 p.m. eastern time.