Newburgh, N.Y. - Led by 13 points each from senior
Vanessa Lawson (Kingston, N.Y.) and junior
Meredith Paggi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College women's basketball team defeated Purchase College, 81-52, in a Skyline Conference semifinal Thursday night in the Kaplan Center. The Blue Knights improved to 24-2 overall and advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament. The Panthers dropped to 14-13 overall and were eliminated from postseason play.
Purchase scored the opening basket of the contest and stayed right with the Mount for the opening ten minutes. Trailing by two with 11:20 to go in the first, Purchase sophomore Jessie Domes (Glenwood, N.Y.) dropped in a lay-up to tie the game at fourteen. After a bucket by Mount Saint Mary sophomore Kelly McCourt (West Milford, N.J.), Purchase junior Jennifer Danio (Staten Island, N.Y.) nailed a three-pointer to give the Panthers a 17-16 advantage.
Mount Saint Mary answered quickly, however, rattling off an 8-0 run thanks to three-pointers by Lawson and senior Megan Kimmey (Troy, N.Y.). Three minutes later, the Blue Knights started a 9-0 run that made the score 38-22. After trailing by one at the 10:52 mark, Mount Saint Mary outscored Purchase, 24-7, to close the half and carried a sixteen point cushion (40-24) into the intermission.
Things did not get any better for the Panthers out of the break and they never got closer than their sixteen-point half time deficit. The Blue Knights finished the contest with their biggest lead of the night, twenty-nine.
Paggi and Lawson each tallied 5 rebounds to go along with their 13 points. Markert and sophomore Shannon Sangster (Syracuse, N.Y.) both finished with 10 points and totaled 7 and 6 rebounds, respectively. Senior Chantel Anthony (Middletown, N.Y.) dished out a team-high 4 assists.
Danio led the way for the Panthers, scoring 19 points and collecting 7 rebounds. Domes was the only other Panther in double figures and wound up with 12 points. Domes racked up a game-high 5 assists but also turned the ball over 9 times. The Panthers had 23 turnovers as a team and shot just 29.8-percent from the field.
The Blue Knights shot 45.5-percent for the contest and connected on 7-of-17 attempts from behind the arc. They held a 45-40 advantage on the glass.
As they have in each of the past four seasons, Mount Saint Mary will host Farmingdale in Saturday's conference championship game. The Blue Knights and Rams split a pair of games earlier in the season, each team winning on their home floor. The winner of Saturday's contest receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
