Winning Streak Comes To An End for Montclair State Women's Basketball Team

The women’s basketball team at Montclair State University suffered its first loss of the season Friday and was bumped out of the NCAA Divisional III Tournament, but not before securing the longest winning streak in school history. 

The Red Hawks' 29-game winning streak ended last week with a loss to Christopher Newport, 83-70, at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., in the semifinals of the NCAA Sectional Tournament. The streak surpassed the previous record of 26 games by the university’s softball team in 2008. 

“This is a great group of student athletes,” said Coach of the Red Hawks Karin Harvey. “They are very team oriented, worked really hard, and are really fun to be around.”  

In the loss to Christopher Newport, the Montclair State was led in scoring by sophomore Melissa Tobie, of Elizabeth, who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, and followed by the New Jersey Athletic Conference’s Freshman of the Year Shalette Brown, of Somerset, with 14 points and 14 rebounds. 

The two teams were tied at the end of the first half at 33. Christopher Newport then pulled away in the second half, outscoring the Red Hawks 50-37. 

Injury struck the Red Hawks both before and during the game, said Harvey. The team lost its starting forward Taylor Jeffers to an ankle injury, and the team was playing without its starting point guard Janitza Aquino the entire game. 

“They girls worked extremely hard and played the way they always do, with class, determination and effort,” said Harvey. “I couldn’t be more proud of their effort in that final game. We ended the game just as we started the season, we just didn’t come away with a win that day.” 

During the tournament, Montclair State missed out on hosting first- and second-round games due to a NCAA statewide ban. The NCAA restricted all New Jersey universities from hosting tournament and championship games while the state pursued legalizing sports betting. The ban was lifted on March 6.  

Harvey said the ban had no effect on the team. 

This season will also go down in the record books as the best start to a season and the most wins in a season at Montclair State. 

This was the team’s first birth into the tournament since 1995, when the women’s team was knocked out in the first round.

With only one senior graduating this year, Harvey said the young team set a bar this season that it will look to surpass in the years to come. 

“It’s pretty amazing,” said Harvey. “We have a really young team, so we were excited but we didn’t really know how good we were. The future is bright.”