Albany, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team fell in the semifinal round of the Skyline Conference Championship on Thursday at top-seeded Sage by a score of 73-55. Freshman Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) led the Knights with a game-high 20 points.
 
The lead changed just once on Thursday, with the Gators taking the lead for good in the contest on a Genevieve Schoff jumper with 6:27 left in the first quarter to give Sage a 9-8 lead. The Knights got off to a good start in the game, scoring the first six points over the first 56 seconds of action.
 
The Schoff jumper started a 16-0 run for the Gators that saw them jump in front 18-8 on a Kaitlyn Bowman bucket with just over three minutes left in the opening stanza. Following a Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) jumper with 8:33 left in the period, the Knights went without a field goal until an Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) bucket with 2:40 left in the frame.
 
Mount Saint Mary entered the second quarter trailing by eight at 20-12, but would not get a field goal in the second frame until a Cleare conversion over three minutes into the stanza. The Gators scored the first 12 points of the second to race out to a 32-12 lead on a Frankie Pearson triple with 7:00 left before halftime.
 
The Knights would get as close as 16 points late in the second quarter, but a Pearson three-pointer with 15 seconds left before the break gave the Gators a commanding 46-27 advantage after 20 minutes of action.
 
Mount Saint Mary was held to 39.1-percent shooting over the first two quarters and went 0-for-2 from behind the arc. Sage converted at 54.5-percent in the first half and knocked in four three-pointers, including three from Pearson. She led all scorers at the break with 15 points.
 
The Knights would not be able to get any closer than 15 points after halftime on Thursday and fell behind by as many as 21 points twice after the intermission. Emily Parslow paced the Gators with 11 second half points in the win.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the game shooting 39.2-percent and went 0-for-5 from behind the arc. Thursday marked the fourth time this season the Mount went without a three-point field goal. The Knights turned the ball over 17 times in the contest, leading to 16 Sage points in the game.
 
Cleare finished the night 6-for-13 from the floor and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line as she paced all players with 20 points. She chipped in with seven rebounds and added two steals for the Knights. Rini was the only other player in double-figures, scoring 10 points for the Mount, also adding seven boards.
 
Limonta came off the bench to contribute six points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots with Megan Kerutis (Merrimack, N.H.) and Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) each handing out two assists.
 
Sage, who shot just shy of 45-percent in the game, featured a balanced scoring attack led by 18 points from Schoff who also posted a game-high with eight rebounds. Parslow finished with 17 points with Pearson and Bowman registering 15 and 12 points, respectively.
 
Thursday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 14-13 overall on the season. 

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