Newburgh, N.Y. – Led by 15 points from freshman Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) and a double-double from senior Jessica Rini (Seaford, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team earned a 62-51 home win over previously unbeaten Old Westbury on Wednesday night.
 
The Mount stifled the visiting Panthers over the opening 20 minutes, holding Old Westbury to 21.4-percent shooting before halftime. The Knights were held to 25-percent shooting over the opening 20 minutes, but outscored the Panthers 10-3 from the free-throw line to carry a 26-19 lead into the intermission.
 
The Knights got off to a good start and opened an 8-2 lead on an Elizabeth Limonta (Stewart Manor, N.Y.) free-throw at the 4:14 mark of the first period and ran out to a nine-point lead on a Jordyn Hellpap (Hackensack, N.J.) three-pointer with 8:43 left in the second stanza.
 
Old Westbury battled back to get within one point on a Davida Ward free-throw in the middle stages of the second period, but the Knights closed the half on a 9-3 spurt to open the seven-point halftime advantage. Rini hit a jumper to give the Mount a 24-19 edge late in the half and Lyndsay Pace (Cranford, N.J.) closed out the scoring in the half with a pair of free-throws with 28 seconds left before halftime.
 
Old Westbury came out of halftime with an 8-0 run to grab its first lead of the game following a Destiny Marino three-point play that pushed the Panthers in front 27-26. The Panthers moved in front by three-points on a pair of Tori Bellings free-throws, but could not build the advantage any larger than that the rest of the night.
 
Mount Saint Mary used a Smith three-point play and a Bridget Kelly (Farmington, Conn.) jumper late in the third period to retake a three-point lead and would not trail again in the contest.
 
The Panthers tied the score on two occasions early in the fourth period, but a 9-3 run from the Mount opened a six-point lead on a Rini jumper with just shy of two minutes left in the game. The Knights went on to hit eight free-throws over the final 46 seconds to secure the victory.
 
Smith followed up a career-high scoring performance against Transylvania with 15 tallies on Wednesday, going 3-for-8 from the floor and hitting nine free-throws. She added four assists and three steals to the winning effort.
 
Rini closed out her third double-double of the season with 12 points and 13 rebounds, adding three steals and a blocked shot. Cleare finished up with 10 points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks for the Knights, with Maite Grtisko (Milford, Conn.) leading the way with four steals.
 
Mount Saint Mary shot 34.7-percent for the game and held a 13-3 advantage in second chance points, despite allowing 16 offensive rebounds to Old Westbury.
 
Wednesday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 7-5 overall and to 5-1 in league action. The Knights return to the court on Saturday when they travel to USMMA for a 12:00 p.m. tip-off with the Mariners.