Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team stopped a two game conference slide on Saturday with a dominating 66-40 home win over St. Joseph's-L.I. Sophomore Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) led the Knight with 14 points and freshman Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) hauled in a career best 13 rebounds.
 
Mount Saint Mary never trailed in the game and was even with the Golden Eagles just once, at 4-4, in the opening minutes of the contest. A Megan Kerutis (Merrimack, N.H.) bucket gave the Knights the lead for good at the midway point of the opening period and started a quick 6-0 spurt that saw the Mount jump in front 10-4. St. Joseph's would get as close as three points before a pair of Kerutis free-throws sent the Mount into the second stanza with a 14-7 lead.
 
The Knights saw the visitors climb to within two points twice in the opening stages of the second quarter before a 9-0 stretch from the Mount pushed it in front 25-14 on a Janae Graham (Orange, Conn.) free-throw with 4:46 left before the half. The Mount allowed St. Joseph's back to within nine points, but a Rini lay-in with 1:05 left in the quarter sent Mount Saint Mary into the break with a 31-18 lead.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot 36.4-percent from the floor in the opening half and held the visitors to a 28-percent effort. The Knights outscored St. Joseph's 10-0 in the paint and 7-0 in second chance points before the half and were led by six points from four different players.
 
Graham gave the Mount a 42-26 lead on a three-pointer in the middle stages of the third quarter and the Knights did not allow the Golden Eagles closer than 12 points the rest of the afternoon. The Knights moved in front by 21 points on a Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) conversion with 9:07 left in regulation and jumped out to their largest lead of the game, a 29 point advantage, on a Brooke Dennin (Glenham, N.Y.) three-point play with 1:39 left in the tilt.
 
Mount Saint Mary improved to 55.6-percent shooting after halftime and went a perfect 3-for-3 from behind the arc after the intermission. Dennin knocked down a pair of triples in the second half and led the Mount with nine second half points.
 
Rini finished the game 7-for-11 from the floor on her way to the team-high point total, adding six rebounds and a pair of steals. Graham chipped in with 10 points on 4-for-7 shooting, rounding out the day with four rebounds and four assists.
 
Dennin finished the day with a career-high nine points for the Knights, while Limonta matched her career-high in scoring with seven points and reached double-figures in rebounding for the third time this season. Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) contributed eight points and eight rebounds to the winning effort and Kerutis rounded out the day with six points and a career-high five assists.
 
St. Joseph's, who was held to 30-percent shooting on the day, was led by 13 points from Andrea Iavarone.
 
The Mount closed the game shooting 45-percent from the floor overall and went 3-for-6 from behind the arc. The Knights dominated paint points at 26-12 and turned a 23-5 edge in offensive rebounds into a 12-2 advantage in second chance scoring.
 
Saturday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 6-9 overall on the season and to 4-4 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights will remain home for a conference date with Mount Saint Vincent on Wednesday, January 20. Tip-off with the Dolphins is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.

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