Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team will open play in the 2017 Skyline Conference Women's Basketball Championship on Thursday against Sage following a First Round Bye on Tuesday. Tip-off at the Kaplan Center is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. with Live Stats and Video available for those who cannot attend the contest.
 
Admission: Per Skyline Conference rules there will be a $5 admission fee for adults attending the contest. Mount Saint Mary and Sage students with a valid student ID will not be charged admission on Thursday.
 
At A Glance: Mount Saint Mary finished in a tie for first in the conference standings and earned the second seed and a first round bye based on conference tiebreaking policy. The Knights concluded the regular season at 19-5 and posted a 15-3 Skyline Conference record.
 
The Knights won their last three regular season games and seven of the last eight overall, including a 57-47 road win at St. Joseph's-Brooklyn in their final tune-up before the conference championship tournament. Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) posted season-highs in points and rebounds with 22 and 18 respectively against the Bears on her way to being named the Skyline Conference Player of the Week on Monday.
 
Cleare is averaging a double-double heading into Thursday's semifinal, scoring 10.6 points and hauling in a team-high 10.2 rebounds per game. She is shooting 49.8-percent from the floor for the season and paces the Knights with 31 blocked shots.  
 
Junior Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.) leads the Mount in scoring with 11.5 points per game and is shooting 44.1-percent on the season. She adds 7.5 rebounds per game and has blocked 16 shots for the Knights.
 
Freshman Jordyn Hellpap (Hackensack, N.J.) has knocked in a team-high 34 three-point field goals to go along with 47 assists and 31 steals, both marks rank second on the team. Junior Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) leads the way in steals with 37 and is good for 6.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game off the bench, while Maite Gritsko (Milford, Conn.) holds the team lead with 49 assists on the season.
 
Mount Saint Mary enters Thursday's contest among the conference leaders in nearly every category. The Knights lead the Skyline Conference in scoring defense (47.5) and sit second in field goal percentage defense (29.6), rebounding margin (12.8) and scoring margin (13.8). In addition, the Mount finds itself third in the league in field goal percentage (40.3) and three-point field goal percentage defense (26.1).
 
Scouting Sage: The Gators come calling with an 18-8 overall record and are coming off a 64-47 home win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy in the First Round of the Championship on Tuesday night. The Gators shot 40.4-percent overall in the game and were led by 23 points from Emily Parslow. She was one of three players in double-figures with Genevieve Schoff adding 13 points and Frankie Pearson chipping in with 11.
 
Sage, who has won four straight and five of its last six overall, is led by four players who score in double-figures. Schoff paces the Gators with 14.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and is supported by 11.1 points from Parslow, 10.9 points from Kaitlyn Bowman and 10.3 points from Pearson. Scoff shoots 45.5-percent overall from the floor and has made a team-high 97 free-throws, while Pearson has knocked in a team best 53 three-point field goals.
 
Sage features six players with at least 25 assists on the season, led by 82 from Parslow who has added 37 steals. Pearson leads the team with 47 thefts on the season, with Schoff leading the way in blocked shots with 34.
 
Through its win on Tuesday, Sage leads the Skyline Conference in three-point field goal percentage defense (21.2) and sits third in three-point field goal percentage (31.2) and scoring margin (11.9). The Gators rank fourth in the league in scoring (65.4), scoring defense (53.5), field goal percentage (39.0), field goal percentage defense (34.2) and rebounding margin (6.8).
 
Regular Season Series: The Mount and Sage split the regular season series with each team winning on its home floor. In a 49-34 win at the Kaplan Center on December 1, the Mount held Sage to 25.4-percent shooting and a 1-for-11 effort from three-point range. The Knights converted at 42.2-percent in the game and were led by 11 points from Megan Kerutis (Merrimack, N.H.).
 
Sage collected a 58-54 win in Albany on January 21 in a game in shot 43.5-percent from the floor and finished 14-for-17 from the free-throw line. The Knights were held to a 2-for-15 performance from three-point range and shot 35.1-percent overall in the game. Bowman led three players in double-figures with 20 points for Sage, while Rini and Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) led the Mount with 16 points and 12 rebounds, respectively.
 
Skyline Conference Championship History: Mount Saint Mary won 10 straight Skyline Conference Championships from the 1999-00 season through the 2008-09 campaign. The Knights won two more titles in 2010-11 and 2011-12 and has reached the semifinal round of the championship in each of the last three seasons, including Thursday night's appearance.
 
Sage won the conference crown, its first in program history, during the 2013-14 season.
 
What's At Stake: The winner of Thursday's contest will take on the winner of top-seeded Old Westbury and the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday with the league's berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line.