Newton, Mass. – Led by a career-high 14 points from freshman Megan Kerutis (Merrimack, N.H.) and a career-high 22 rebounds from classmate Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team closed out its non-conference schedule on Tuesday with a 61-41 road win at Mount Ida.
 
The Knights got off to a sluggish start, falling behind 16-2 with 2:13 left in the first period. The Mount was held to just one field goal over the first 7:47 of the opening period before closing the stanza on a 5-0 run to cut its deficit to 16-7 after 10 minutes of action.
 
Mount Saint Mary went on to score the first eight points of the second period to pull to within 16-15 on a pair of Janae Graham (Orange, Conn.) free-throws and Kassidy Hallum (Lake Grove, N.Y.) canned a triple accounting for the only lead change of the evening, pushing the Mount in front 18-17 with 4:46 left before halftime.
 
The Knights outscored Mount Ida 21-4 in the second period and gained a half-high eight point lead on a Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) lay-in with 13 seconds left in the quarter. Kerutis scored eight points in the second frame for the Knights, who held Mount Ida to 1-for-11 shooting in the frame.
 
Kerutis and Rini led the Knights with eight first half points each, with Cleare hauling in 12 rebounds over the first 20 minutes. The Mount shot just 28.1-percent from the floor in the half and outscored Mount Ida 9-3 from the free-throw line on its way to a 28-20 advantage at the break.
 
Cleare gave the Knights their first double-digit advantage of the night with a bucket at the 8:17 mark of the third quarter and the Mount maintained a double-figure advantage the rest of the period. Maite Gritsko (Milford, Conn.) spread the Mount Saint Mary lead to 47-27 on a jumper with 68 seconds remaining in the period.
 
Mount Ida pulled to within 14 points in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but the Knights used a 6-0 spurt keyed by a pair of Rini buckets to retake a 20 point lead. Mount Saint Mary would match the game-high advantage three more times over the remainder of regulation time, including on a Daisha Madden (Baltimore, Md.) bucket that gave the Mount the final 61-41 lead with 34 seconds left in the game.
 
The Knights improved to just better than 42-percent from the floor after halftime and finished the game converting at a 35.4-percent rate. After allowing 16 first quarter points, the Mount Saint Mary defense allowed just 25 the rest of the way and held Mount Ida to 26.7-percent shooting for the game.
 
Kerutis finished the game 5-for-11 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line and closed a strong all-around game with three rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Rini netted 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting, adding five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
 
Cleare hauled in 22 boards for the Mount, including seven on the offensive glass, and added eight points and three helpers. Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) chipped in with seven points and freshman Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) contributed six points and six rebounds for the Mount.
 
Katlyn Jesse paced Mount Ida with eight points, while Angelique Martinez posted seven points and team-highs in rebounds with 10 and assists with two.
 
Tuesday's win stops a two game slide for Mount Saint Mary and moves it to 10-12 overall on the season. The Knights will return to league play on Thursday when they close out the season series with St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. Tip-off in Brooklyn is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.

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