New Rochelle, NY, February 27, 2022 – Mountain climbed, summit reached.
 
After entering the 2021-22 season with unfinished business, the top-seeded Monroe Express women's basketball program (21-7) checked off a major box gritting out a 45-39 victory over rival Hostos Community College (14-5) on Sunday afternoon at the Monroe Athletic Complex for the program's first-ever Region 15 Championship and their first trip to the 2022 NJCAA DIII Women's Basketball Championship.
 
The Express are the first program to win the Region 15 Championship in four seasons after the Caimans won the previous four.
 
Sophomore Tariah Bryant (Brooklyn, New York) was named the Region 15 Championship Most Valuable Player after leading all scorers with a game-high 16 points while dishing out a game-best tied three assists.
 
Freshman Maria Negron (Bronx, New York) hauled down a game-high 17 rebounds for her fifth straight double-digit rebound game and missed a double-double by one point with nine. Classmate Taina Maldonado (New York, New York) ripped down 13 rebounds for her second double-digit rebounding performance of the year and her second straight against the Caimans while joining Nyeira Spady (New Rochelle, New York) who chipped in with nine points defensively with two steals.
 
Monroe-Bronx held Hostos Community College to 20.5% shooting from the field (15-for-73) and outrebounded them 50-43.
 
The Express started the game fast, jumping out to a 13-4 advantage over six and half minutes into the first quarter. After an Aiyana Hicks jumper cut the deficit to seven, 13-6 at 2:10, Monroe Bronx got the lead back up to nine, 17-8 as the first quarter came to a close. Hostos Community College held the Express to three points in the second quarter, cutting the deficit down to one, 20-19 with 15 seconds left when Starr Garcia went 1-for-2 at the line, and it stayed that way going into halftime.
 
The Express scored the first four points to increase the margin to five, 24-19 at the 8:25 mark on a Bryant jumper, then the Caiman scored the following four points to get the deficit down to one, 24-23 6:03 on a Dimon Walker layup. That was the closest the visitors would get as Monroe-Bronx increased their lead back to six, 35-29 at 2:05 on a Negron layup and then seven, 36-29 at 1:27 when Spady went 1-for-2 at the line going into the final stanza.
 
Hostos made one more charge at the 6:47 mark of the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit down to three, 38-35 at 6:47 on an Ayanna Brown layup, but the Express would score five of the following seven points to stretch the lead back to six, 43-37 at 2:45 on a Bryant layup. Spady's jumper off of a beautiful spin move with 35 seconds left was the icing on the cake, making it 45-37 and completing a major program milestone with a 45-39 victory.
 
For Hostos Community College, Dimon Walker and Shania Lewis led all scorers with 10 points while Lewis and Savannah Williams brought down a team-high eight rebounds apiece. Aiyanna Hick swatted a game-high eight shots on the afternoon while Walker and Williams grasped two steals each.
 
The Express have earned an automatic bid to the NJCAA Division III Women's Basketball tournament and will find out their first round opponent this Wednesday, Mar. 3, at 3:30 p.m. For more information, please visit the Monroe Express Women's Basketball Page.

 
ABOUT THE ATHLETIC PROGRAM AT MONROE COLLEGE
The athletic program at Monroe College encompasses a total of 36 teams competing across nine sports. There are 19 varsity and junior varsity programs, as well as club men's and women's rugby, the Monroe College marching band, and the newly added esports program, competing on the New Rochelle campus as the Mustangs (NJCAA Division I). The Monroe Express, based out of the Bronx campus, has 17 teams competing at the NJCAA Division III level.
 
For more information about the Monroe Express, please visit us at www.MonroeExpress.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Monroe Express), Twitter (@MonroeExpress), and Instagram (@MonroeExpress).