Box Score

CAMDEN, N.J. (Feb. 15, 2017) – As far as the Rutgers University-Camden women's basketball team is concerned, Wednesday night was the imperfect storm that knocked the Scarlet Raptors out of a New Jersey Athletic Conference playoff berth on the final night of the regular season here Wednesday.
 
With the Scarlet Raptors needing just one of three key games to go their way, they saw all three decisions go against them, including their own 76-72 loss against nationally-ranked Montclair State University, the NJAC regular-season champion.
 
Senior Night photo gallery

Coupled with Rutgers-Newark's win over The College of New Jersey and William Paterson's upset of Kean University, Paterson grabbed the fifth seed in the playoffs with a 9-9 record. That left Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark and TCNJ all tied with 8-10 conference marks for the final spot. Newark grabbed that spot by virtue of a 3-1 record against the other two teams, including a pair of wins over Rutgers-Camden. The Raptors were 2-2 in the round-robin head-to-head and the Lions were 1-3.
 
Montclair State, ranked No. 15 in the current WBCA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll and No. 16 in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 poll, improves to 23-2 overall and closes the regular-season at 16-2 in NJAC play. The Red Hawks are the top seed for the NJAC playoffs, have a first-round bye and will host a semifinal game on Wednesday.
 
Rutgers-Camden finishes the regular season with a 14-11 overall record, including its 8-10 NJAC mark. The Scarlet Raptors will wait until Feb. 27 to see if they get selected for a spot in the ECAC playoffs.
 
In a game that also served as Senior Night for the Scarlet Raptors' lone senior, center Caroline Santiago (Buena, NJ/Buena Regional), Rutgers-Camden took a four-point halftime lead (42-38) and led by as many as 10 points (56-46) in the third quarter. By the start of the fourth quarter, however, Montclair State had sliced its deficit to 60-57 with an 11-4 run, which included nine points from junior guard/forward Katie Sire (Hazlet, NJ/Raritan).
 
The lead changed hands seven times in the final quarter, including with 4:24 remaining in the game when senior guard Rachael Krauss (Farmingdale, NJ/Colts Neck) hit her fifth three-pointer of the night to set the Montclair State career record with her 179th trey. She passed Janitza Aquino, who had 178 treys from 2011-15, and gave the Red Hawks a 71-69 lead.
 
Moments later, the Raptors answered on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Gabby Greene (Howell, NJ/Howell) to take their last lead, 72-71. Greene, who had four treys on the night to hike her single-season Rutgers-Camden record to 80, is well on the way to the Rutgers-Camden career record. Halfway through her career, she now owns 132 treys, only 40 shy of the program's career mark.
 
A foul shot by senior forward Sage Bennett (Sicklerville, NJ/Winslow) tied the game at 72-72, and Bennett put the Red Hawks ahead to stay with a layup with 24 seconds remaining. Sire tacked on a pair of foul shots with one second remaining for the final margin, completing a sensational night in which she scored 30 points on 11-for-19 shooting from the field (2-for-4 from three-point range) and a went a perfect 6-for-6 from the foul line. She added 10 rebounds for good measure, completing a double-double.
 
Krauss finished with 15 points and senior guard Zoe Curtis (Little Silver, NJ/Red Bank Regional) added 12 for Montclair State. Junior guard Kate Tobie (Elizabeth, NJ/Roselle Catholic) notched a game-high six assists and led the Red Hawks with three steals.
 
Junior guard Jovan Childers (Bridgeton, NJ/Bridgeton) led five Scarlet Raptors in double digits, scoring 19 points. Greene notched 14, Santiago had 13, junior forward Michelle Obasi (Camden, NJ/Camden Catholic) collected 11 points and junior guard/forward Cara Racobaldo (Pennsauken, NJ/Camden Catholic) added 10 points.
 
Obasi, Childers and Santiago grabbed nine, eight and seven rebounds, respectively, as both teams finished with 36 boards.
 
Racobaldo had a team-high five assists and a game-high five steals. Her five assists gave her 96 for the season, so if the Raptors earn an ECAC berth, she could become the first person in program history to collect three 100-assist seasons in her career. She already is one of only three players with a pair of 100-assist seasons.
 
Montclair State shot 27-for-58 (46.6 percent) from the field, including 11-for-20 (55.0) from three-point range. The Red Hawks were 11-for-15 (73.3) from the foul line.
 
Rutgers-Camden shot 26-for-61 (42.6) from the field, including 5-for-14 (35.7) from three-point range. The Raptors were 15-for-23 (65.2) from the foul line.