Montclair State Rolls Past Hunter College in Regular Season Opener

With the departure of seniors Katie Sire, Kate Tobie, and Taylor Harmon, the Montclair State Red Hawks ushered in a new era and starting lineup in the regular season home opener against Hunter College at the Panzer Athletic Center on Monday night.

A close contest for most of the first half, the Red Hawks took command, reeling off a 12-3 run in the last three minutes of the second quarter, taking a 37-27 lead at halftime. Domonique Wirsing led the team with eight points at the break, while Taylor Brown, Kayla Bush, Trisha Peterson and Rylee Mulligan each contributed five points apiece.

“I thought it was huge, actually called a timeout in the with a minute and half left and we went on a little run there and got the ten point lead at halftime,” said Montclair State head coach Karin Harvey. “Senior Dom Wirsing played outstanding, shot 50 percent from the floor and grabbed a bunch of rebounds.”

In the second half, it was Harmon’s turn as she poured in 12 of her 17 game points. Montclair State expanded its lead to 19 points with three minutes in the third quarter. The Red Hawks defense turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter, holding the Hawks to six points for the 71-50 victory. Montclair State outscored Hunter College 26-20 points in the paint, 16-2 in second chance points, and 31-8 in bench points.

“There were flashes of some really good things we did, we have some work to do but always nice to get the first win and a real teams effort and love that part of the game,” Harvey said. “We had a lot of contributions scoring 30 points off the bench and to see the freshman come in and do some things. Doesn’t quite look like Montclair State basketball but it’s going to. We did a great job rebounding (46-33), haven’t take a lot of time to work on it in practice other than saying you need to work on rebounding and did a tremendous job on the boards. Rebounding is effort and they put it in.

“Taylor Brown came alive and got her shot going a little bit and hit her three’s and knocked it down from the free throw at the end of the game.”

Next up for the Red Hawks (1-0) is St. Lawrence (1-0) in the Drew Rose City Classic Tournament at Drew University on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 8:00 p.m.

“A really good team, they are huge with their starting five, dominant inside game and outrebounded opponent by 23 or 24 in their first game of the year,” said Harvey. “It provides a challenge for us with a different style of play that is high-post oriented and how we handle that and looking forward to the challenge and a real good test for us”