Anyssa Sanchez is one of the youngsters in the Rowan starting lineup, as a junior. Rowan athletics photo

It’s far too early to predict the NJAC women’s basketball champion, but Rowan continues to build its case. The Profs gained sole possession of first place in the conference standings after beating Montclair, 68-64, on Wednesday.

Rowan has the experience for a championship run. The Profs start three graduate students – Kate Matthews, Kaitlin Schullstrom, and Melissa Lake – and two juniors, Valerie Garofalo and Anyssa Sanchez.

That experience showed late in the game on Wednesday. After Montclair took a 61-56 lead with 5:18 left in the fourth quarter, Schullstrom drove and drew a foul on Rowan’s next possession. She made both of her free throws. The Profs tied the game at 61-61 when Garofalo got fouled on a transition layup and completed the three-point play.

“We wanted to attack the paint, give ourselves some good, high-percentage opportunities, and hopefully get to the line,” Rowan coach Gabby Lisella said.

Rowan did more than get to the line; it converted. The Profs went 10-for-15 on their fourth-quarter foul shots. Rowan made five free throws in the final two minutes.

Until Wednesday, Rowan had not beaten Montclair since Jan. 15, 2011.

“I’ve been wanting it for years,” Matthews said of the win.

Montclair is not out of the championship race, but the Red Hawks will need to improve before their rematch with Rowan on Feb. 10. Montclair held an 11-point lead with 3:10 left in the second quarter on Wednesday, but the Red Hawks’ sloppy play after that – including two airball 3-pointers from sophomore Katie Sire and a shot clock violation – allowed Rowan to cut its deficit before halftime.

In the final seconds of the first half, Schullstrom missed a 3-pointer, got her own rebound, and made a buzzer-beating layup. Rowan trailed by just three points, 35-32.

Sire had 22 points and 14 rebounds, and junior Sage Bennett added 18 points and seven boards. The rest of Montclair’s starters--junior Rachael Krauss, sophomore Kate Tobie, and junior Zoe Curtis--combined to go 4-for-23 from the field. Matthews led Rowan with 20 points and 17 rebounds.

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The game against Rowan was Montclair’s first conference matchup without senior guard Kayla Ceballos. The Montclair captain’s season ended when she tore her right ACL and MCL against Lebanon Valley on Dec. 28. Though Ceballos did not know the details of her injury at the time, she sensed that it was severe.

“I went up for a rebound, and the girl just came down on my knee,” Ceballos said. “I’ve never been hurt like that before. I just knew it right away; I just felt it.”

Ceballos was a starter this year and was averaging a team-high 13.5 points per game. She will have surgery on Monday, she said.