Boston, Mass. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team closed out play in the Emerson Tip-Off Classic on Sunday afternoon with a 59-34 loss to Middlebury. Freshman guard Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) led the Mount with 10 points.
 
For the second straight game, the Mount trailed wire-to-wire, scoring only 12 points in the opening 20 minutes. The Knights went without a field goal for the first 8:46 of the game., until Smith goth them on the board with a lay-in with 1:14 left in the opening stanza.
 
The Mount pulled to within 9-6 early in the second period on a Smith jumper, but the Panthers used an 8-0 run capped by a Maya Davis conversion to pull in front 17-6 with four minutes left before halftime. The Knights climbed back to within six points in the final two minutes of the half, but Middlebury tallied five of the final six points of the second quarter to take a 22-12 lead into the intermission.
 
Mount Saint Mary went 4-for-18 from the floor prior to the half, including an 0-for-6 effort from three-point range. Middlebury finished up 9-for-26 and knocked in a pair of triples over the opening 20 minutes.
 
Following a sluggish first 20 minutes, Middlebury came out in the third quarter and hit four three-pointers and shot 40.9-percent from the floor on its way to outscoring the Mount 26-8 in the period. The Panthers broke open the game with an 11-0 run to take a 37-15 lead and entered the fourth period ahead 48-20 after scoring the final eight points of the third.


The Knights outscored Middlebury 14-11 in the fourth frame, but could not pull closer than the final 25-point deficit following a pair of Dorothy Tighe (Walden, N.Y.) free-throws with 40 seconds left in the contest.
 
Middlebury finished the game shooting 36.7-percent overall, hitting eight three points and adding a 7-for-11 effort from the free-throw line. Betsy Knox led all players with 12 points in the game with Catherine Harrison hauling in seven rebounds.
 
Smith reached double-figures for the second straight game, going 4-for-11 from the floor to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Junior Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) chipped in with eight points and added a block.
 
The Knights closed the game shooting 24.4-percent and went 1-for-12 from three-point range. The Mount was outscored in the paint 22-12 and off of turnovers 27-8.
 
At 1-2 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary closes a three game road swing on Tuesday at Vassar. Tip-off in Poughkeepsie is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.