NEWBURGH, NY – Using their formula of balanced scoring and stingy defense, the Mount Saint Mary College women's basketball team defeated SUNY College at Old Westbury in a Skyline Conference semifinal by a score of 77-52. The Blue Knights improve to 22-4 overall and move on to face Farmingdale in the championship game on Saturday. The Panthers dropped to 19-8 overall.

After trading buckets for the opening three minutes, Mount Saint Mary junior Shannon Sangster (Syracuse, N.Y.) knocked down a jumper at the 16:19 mark to give the Blue Knights the lead for good. Freshman Sarah Joseph (East Hampton, Conn.) extended the lead to seven at the 8:44 mark with a long three-pointer and junior Meredith Paggi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) pushed the advantage to double digits with a layup at 6:31. Mount Saint Mary carried a 44-26 lead into the break.

Old Westbury closed to within fourteen on two occasions in the second half, but would get no closer. After a 7-0 run by the Panthers near the ten minute mark, freshman Amanda Horvers (Kingston, N.Y.) knocked down a triple as an answer. A layup from junior Chrissy Zrowka (Brick, N.J.) at the 7:46 mark put the lead back above twenty and the Blue Knights cruised down the stretch to a twenty-five point win.

Paggi scored a team-high 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor. Sangster finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds while senior LaSheila Augustin (Valley Stream, N.Y.) scored 10 points to go along with 12 boards. Zrowka complemented her 9 points with 10 assists.

Senior Pamela Robinson (Wheatley Heights, N.Y.) scored a game-high 19 points for Old Westbury, shooting 5-of-10 from the floor and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Sophomore Samantha Johnson (Queens Village, N.Y.) chipped in with 17 points while freshman Courtney Milton (Bronx, N.Y.) pulled down a game-high 18 rebounds.

The Blue Knights shot 39-percent from the floor while limiting the Panthers to just 28.6-percent, maintaining their national-leading field goal percentage defense at 28.8-percent for the season.

Top-seeded Mount Saint Mary will host Farmingdale State College in the championship game at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 28. The game will mark the sixth consecutive time that the two teams have played for the conference title.