Newburgh, N.Y. – Sophomore Megan Kerutis (Merrimack, N.H.) led a trio of players in doubles-figures and eight different players found the scoring column as the Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team posted a 57-48 Skyline Conference win over visiting Old Westbury on Wednesday evening.
 
After jumping out to a quick 7-2 lead on a Jordyn Hellpap (Hackensack, N.J.) triple with 6:51 left in the first period, the Knights saw the visitors use a quick 6-0 spurt, led by four points from Jasmine Robinson, to take their only lead of the game at 8-7.
 
Mount Saint Mary responded with a Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) jumper to regain the lead and got a Maite Gritsko (Milford, Conn.) three-pointer at the first period horn to grab a slim 12-9 lead after 10 minutes of play.
 
The Knights scored the first eight points of the second stanza to open an 11 point advantage and maintained at least an eight point lead for the remainder of the period. A Hellpap triple with 1:43 left before halftime gave the Mount a 28-17 lead and a pair of Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) free-throws with 34 seconds left in the second stanza sent the Mount to the intermission with a 30-19 lead.
 
The Knights finished the first half shooting 37.5-percent and went 4-for-11 from behind the arc, including a 3-for-7 effort from Hellpap prior to the break. She led the Knights with nine points at the half and added a team-high three first half assists.
 
Old Westbury would close to within six points early in the third frame on a Charlotte Renker conversion, but a bucket from Cleare and Hellpap's fourth three-pointer of the game quickly pushed the Knights' lead back to double-figures at 35-24 with just over six minutes left in the quarter.
 
The Panthers climbed back to within six points twice again early in the fourth stanza, but a 6-0 spurt from the Knights pushed the lead back to 12 on a pair of Kerutis free-throws. The Mount matched the game's largest lead on a two Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) conversions from the stripe to secure their second straight victory.
 
The Knights held Old Westbury to 22.2-percent effort from the floor in the second half and to a 28-percent conversion rate for the game. The Panthers went 0-for-11 from three-point range, marking the first time the Knights have held an opponent without a three-pointer since February 13, 2011 against Lehman. The Panthers were paced by 18 points and 13 rebounds from Ruth Vargas.
 
Kerutis rounded out the win 4-for-9 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line on her way to a team-high 13 points. She finished off a solid all-around contest with a rebound, two steals and four assists for the Knights.
 
Hellpap knocked in a career-high four three-pointers on Wednesday and reached double-figures for the first time since netting a career-high 15 points against Bard on November 19. She finished the night 4-for-11 from behind the arc, adding four assists and three steals.
 
Rini scored 10 points for the Mount in the win, with Cleare netting eight points and securing a team-high nine rebounds. Kelly scored six points off the bench for the Mount and joined Hellpap with three steals in the game.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot 37.5-percent for the game and went 6-for-17 from three-point range. The Knights scored 24 points off of turnovers in the game and held an opponent without a bench point for the second straight outing.
 
At 10-3 overall and 6-1 in Skyline Conference play, Mount Saint Mary will return to action on Saturday when it travels to the United States Merchant Marine Academy. Tip-off with the Mariners is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.