Danbury, Conn. – Led by a combined 46 points from Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) and senior Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team overcame a 15 point second half deficit, using a 26 points fourth quarter, to rally past Western Connecticut 85-77 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Knights got off to a quick start and ran out to an early 12-2 lead on a Maite Gritsko (Milford, Conn.) bucket just over three minutes into the contest and matched the 12-point advantage twice more in the opening 10 minutes before taking a 27-21 lead, following a 5-0 run from the Colonials, into the second stanza.
 
Western Connecticut went on to erupt for 32 points in the second 10 minutes and held the Knights to 13 points on its way to a 53-40 lead at halftime. The Colonials used a 17-8 stretch over the first 4:55 of the second period to pull in front 38-35 and closed the second stanza with a 15-4 spurt, including seven points in the final 1:42 of the half, to build the 13-point halftime advantage.
 
The Knights shot a blistering 57.1-percent from the floor prior to halftime, but Western Connecticut took 13 more shots and converted 10 three-point field goals. Jancy Sherwood went 4-for-6 from distance in the first half for the Colonials to lead all scorers with 12 points. Rini paced the Knights' scoring attack with 10 points over the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Knights closed to within seven points twice early in the third frame before the Colonials opened a game-high 15 point lead on a Kaitlyn Labonte triple with 2:23 left in the third frame. Western Connecticut maintained a double-figure advantage until the Knights finished the quarter on a 7-0 run and held the Colonials without a field goal after the Labonte triple in the frame to move to within 67-59 with 10 minutes left to play.
 
Mount Saint Mary stifled Western Connecticut in the fourth stanza, holding the Colonials to only 10 points in surging past them for the victory. An Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) lay-in with 6:22 left in regulation knotted the score at 73-73 and after Western Connecticut gainned a two-point advantage back twice, the Knights used a 10-0 run to close the game and seal the victory. Mount Saint Mary held the Colonials without a field goal over the final 2:40 of regulation time and used four points apiece of the closing stretch from Rini and Cleare to close things out.
 
Mount Saint Mary held Western Connecticut to 10-for-44 shooting after halftime and a 3-for-24 effort from behind the arc to finish the comeback victory. The Knights improved their effort from the first half to an even more efficient 62.5-percent, with Rini going 6-for-6 from the floor in the second half and Cleare going 7-for-9 on her way to 15 second half points.
 
Cleare finished the contest 11-for-13 from the floor on her way to a season-high 24 points, finishing a single tally shy of matching her career-high. She added 12 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season and four blocked shots. Rini finished with 22 points on 11-for-13 shooting, adding five rebounds and a pair of assists.
 
Limonta came off the bench to produce her second double-double of the season, registering 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting and 12 rebounds. Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) rounded out the day with seven points and a career-high six assist with Gritsko chipping in with seven points and three helpers.
 
Sherwood led the Western Connecticut attack with 14 points with Gabrielle Hurlburt coming off the bench to add 13. The Colonials finished the day shooting 32.9-percent overall and went 13-for-51 from three-point range.
 
The Knights shot a season-high 60-percent for the game, outscoring Western Connecticut 58-28 in the paint, 18-14 in second chance scoring and 12-10 on the fast break.
 
Saturday's win moves Mount Saint Mary to 6-4 overall heading into the final game of the 2017 portion of the schedule. The Knights play host to Transylvania on Wednesday with tip-off against the Pioneers scheduled for 6:00 p.m.