Farmingdale, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team returned to conference play on Saturday afternoon, dropping a tough 67-60 road decision at Farmingdale State. Sophomore Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) led the Knights in scoring with 17 points and posted her seventh double-double of the season.
 
After trailing by as many as six points in the opening quarter, the Mount took its first lead of the day, 21-20, on a Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) layup at the midway point of the second quarter. The two teams traded the lead four more times over the next two minutes with the Knights taking a 25-24 lead on a pair of Rini free-throws with 3:22 left in the first half.
 
Mount Saint Mary held Farmingdale without a field goal over the final 4:58 of the second quarter and without a point in the final 3:43 as it took a 27-24 lead into the intermission. Rini closed out the scoring in the second stanza with a bucket at the horn.
 
The Knights finished the first 20 minutes shooting 29-percent from the floor and outscored Farmingdale State 8-2 at the free-throw line. Cleare led the way for the Knights with eight points and nine rebounds over the first half on Saturday.
 
The Knights spread their lead to seven points in the early stages of the third quarter on back-to-back buckets from Rini in the first 1:20 of the period. The Knights maintained the lead until the Rams knotted the score at 33-33 on a Tyra Harrison bucket with 5:27 left in the quarter, but quickly used a 10-3 run to move its lead back out to seven points.
 
Megan Kerutis (Merrimack, N.H.) gave the Mount a 43-36 lead on a triple with 2:30 left in the third stanza and Rini matched the team's largest lead of the game with a lay-in with 68 seconds left in the period, before the Rams scored the final five points to head into the fourth trailing 47-45.
 
Farmingdale State continued its run in the fourth period, scoring the first four points of the frame to pull in front 49-47 on a pair of Camille Romero free-throws. The Knights tied the score on a Kassidy Hallum (Lake Grove, N.Y.) jumper, but would not lead again in the game.
 
The Rams used a 9-0 spurt to open a 58-49 lead with 5:03 left in the game and took its largest lead of the game, 62-52, on an Aries Adams bucket with 3:28 left in the tilt. The Knights would fight back to within four points in the final half minute, but the Rams went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line to close the game.
 
Farmingdale State shot 46.9-percent from the floor after halftime and outscored Mount Saint Mary 11-3 from the charity stripe. The Knights were held to 39.4-percent shooting in the final 20 minutes, but went 4-for-7 from three-point range.
 
Rini scored 10 of her team-high 17 points after the break and finished the game 6-for-14 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line. She closed out her double-double effort with 13 rebounds.
 
Cleare led all players in the game with 15 rebounds and handed out four assists for the Knights. Hallum scored in double-figures for the second time this season, netting 10 points and collecting seven rebounds.
 
Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds, with Kerutis handing out four assists and hauling in five rebounds.
 
Farmingdale State was led by a game-high 19 points from Romero and got 18 points from Harrison. Harrison led the way with eight rebounds and five assists in the win.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot 34.4-percent from the floor in the game and secured 23 offensive rebounds leading to 23 second chance points. The Rams rounded out the game shooting 36.8-percent and turned 18 Mount Saint Mary turnovers into 14 points.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 9-12 overall on the season and to 7-6 in league play. The Knights will close out the non-conference schedule on Tuesday when they travel to Mount Ida. Tip-off in Newton, Mass. Is set for 7:00 p.m.

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