GLASSBORO, NJ – The Rowan University women's basketball team fell to Montclair State University, 72-61 in its first New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) contest in the New Year.
With the win, the Red Hawks are 10-4 on the year and in second place (6-1 NJAC) in the conference standings. The Profs are 7-7 overall with a 5-2 NJAC mark.
Montclair State was led by forward Alex McKinnon (jr. Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Ludlowe) and guard Taylor Brown (so. Trumbull, CT/Trumbull) each with 17 points and three steals. Guard Trisha Peterson (fr. Layfayette, NJ/High Point) added nine points, while guard Kim Calloway (so. Morristown, NJ/Morristown) chipped in eight. Forwards Domonique Wirsing (sr. Kinnelon, NJ/Kinnelon) and Kayla Bush (so. Morristown, NJ/Morristown) scored seven apiece. Wirsing collected nine rebounds.
For Rowan, guard
Alexis Kriley (so. Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) had a team-high 16 points, nine rebounds and five steals. Guard
Olivia Rulon (sr. Cape May Court House, NJ/Wildwood Catholic) followed with 15 points, while guards
Grace Marshall (fr. Bellmawr, NJ/Haddon Twp.) and
Kennedy Brown (fr. Newark, DE/The Tatnall School) produced 13 and 12 respectively. Center
Ayanna Johnson (fr. Ewing, NJ/The Pennington School) grabbed 11 boards and had three blocks.
The Brown and Gold was down 39-20 at the start of the third quarter. Rowan struggled early on as Montclair State built its largest lead of the game of 25 after guard Julia Sutton (fr. York, PA/Dallastown) hit a free throw (7:30). The Profs answered with a seven point run that started with a layup from Rulon (7:18) and ended with a three-point play by Brown (6:01) to trail, 50-32. Rowan kept battling and cut the deficit to 12 (56-44) going into the final frame.
The Profs opened the fourth with back-to-back layups by Rulon (9:20) and Kriley (8:28) to trail by single digits (56-48). Montclair State increased its lead to 15 (66-51) when McKinnon hit a jumper (4:29) and Brown knocked down a trey (3:26). The Brown and Gold picked up the pace with a minute left scoring four points by Brown and forward
Kailyn Sytsma (jr. Northvale, NJ/Northern Valley Old Tappan) to trail, 69-59. The Red Hawks locked down defensively for the remainder of the game for the victory.
The Profs got off to a rocky start in the first half, as they could only score 10 points in each quarter. Montclair State capitalized from Rowan's mistakes as its produced 13 points from turnovers. The Brown and Gold trailed 11-10 at 2:04 in the opening stanza, before the Red Hawks went on a 9-0 run to have a 20-10 advantage. Each team battled it out in the second, but another late 7-0 streak gave Montclair State a 39-20 lead at the half.
Next, Rowan hosts Kean University on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 6 p.m.
