MONTCLAIR STATE RACES PAST RAMAPO, 74-48

Montclair, NJ (1/30/08) – Sophomore forward Catherine Cristino (Farmingdale, NJ / Colts Neck) scored 14 points while senior guard Jessica Horan (West Haverstraw, NY / North Rockland) added 13 off the bench as Montclair State ran out to a seven-point lead early and never looked back in a 74-48 victory over Ramapo College in an NJAC Women’s Basketball North Division matchup at Panzer Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.

Senior guard Jessica Garrabrant (Denville, NJ / Morris Knolls) grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, becoming the sixth player in MSU history to record 900 career boards as the Red Hawks moved to 11-7 overall and 4-3 in the league’s North Division. Montclair also recorded its sixth straight victory over the Roadrunners and improved to 34-7 in the all-time series.

Sophomore guard Malika Gilliam (Roselle, NJ / Abraham Clark) finished with a game-high 19 points along with four assists for Ramapo, which dropped its 14th straight contest and fell to 3-15 overall, 0-7 in the NJAC North.

Montclair State jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first 2;05 of the game as Jackie Berry (Tuckerton, NJ / Pinelands Regional) scored on a layup and Cristino buried the first of her two three-pointers. A layup by Cristino and another by Garrabrant pushed the scored to 11-4 with 15:34 left and MSU maintained the lead for the next five minutes before going on a 15-3 run midway through the period to take a 28-9 advantage on a layup by Jamilee Pflug (Clark, NJ / Arthur L. Johnson) as the Red Hawks took a 33-14 lead into halftime.

Pflug finished with 10 points while sophomore Kisandra Ayanbeku (Burlington, MA / Randolph) added nine points and seven rebounds. Garrabrant, who now has 912 rebounds in her career, added four points, six assists and five steals as MSU held a 50-33 advantage on the boards, including 25 offensive caroms.

Freshman Danielle Beam (Middletown, NJ / Middletown North) had eight points and two rebounds for the Roadrunners.

Both teams return to action on Saturday, February 2 in NJAC inter-divisional play. Montclair State is on the road for a 1:00 pm matchup in Camden, NJ against the Scarlet Raptors of Rutgers-Camden. Ramapo is back home at the Bradley Center for a same-time tip-off against No. 7 Kean University.