Islamorada, Fla. – Simmons Basketball dropped their second game of the Key Largo Classic to Montclair State, 81-61, at Coral Shores High School on Sunday evening. Junior Brittany Dolloff (Hollis, N.H.) led all scoring with 22 points, but was unable to push the Sharks past the Red Hawks on the tournament's second day. With the loss, Simmons drops to 4-6 on the season, while Montclair advances to 6-6 overall.

Junior Jessica Thomas (Sandwich, Mass.) and sophomore Liz O'Connor (Milton, Mass.) followed Dolloff in scoring with 11 and 10 points, respectively. O'Connor also chipped in 7 rebounds. Freshman Georgia Kostopoulos (Cambridge, Mass.) contributed 8 points, six rebounds and one block from the bench.

Simmons led for a good portion of the first half; the Sharks were up 29-24 until 4:10 to play, when Montclair made a 15-2 run to take an eight-point halftime lead. The Red Hawks scored 13 straight points as Michelle Montagna put back a miss and Kisandra Ayanbeku followed with four straight points to give Montclair a 30-29 lead with 3:01 left, and increased the lead to 39-31 at the break.

The Sharks would trim the lead to seven points early in the second half, however Montclair went on a 14-0 run to put the game out of reach. Sara Kelley capped the spurt with a three-pointer as Montclair State led 55-34 with 14:43 to play.

Jeffers scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds while Kelley added 13 points off the bench. Senior forward Ayanbeku collected 13 points and four rebounds.

Montclair State returns home to New Jersey on Tuesday and resumes its schedule on Thursday, January 6 as its resumes New Jersey Athletic Conference play. MSU, currently 1-1 in the NJAC, hosts Ramapo College at the Panzer Athletic Center beginning at 6:00 pm.