Newburgh, N.Y. - The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team dominated the second half to cruise to an 85-39 victory over St. Joseph's-L.I. to extend its winning streak to five games. Kayla Cleare (West Hempstead, N.Y.) and Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) led a balanced attack, scoring 14 points each for the Knights. 

The Golden Eagles came out with a quick 6-0 lead after two triples from Laura Falacara and Alyssa Signor. The lead grew to seven early in the first quarter following an Alicia Indence jumper. The Knights responded with a 10-0 run behind eight straight points from Cleare to take a three point lead. Toriana Tabasco (Hillsdale, N.J.) finished the quarter with three consecutive points as the Knights took a 17-13 lead heading into the second period. 

After a back and forth first few minutes of the second quarter, the Mount rattled off a 21-6 run over the final seven minutes of the period. Cleare finished the first half with 10 points while Annie Keenan (Nesconset, N.Y.), Lyndsay Pace (Cranford, N.J.) and Morina Bojka (Prospect, Conn.) each had six. The Knights shot 44.4-percent in the first half compared to the Golden Eagles 31.0-percent. St. Joseph's-L.I. made one more three-pointer in the half while the Mount knocked down four more free throws.

Mount Saint Mary started the third period with a 21-6 run over the first seven minutes of the quarter. Desrats rattled off 10 points during this run including two three-pointers as the Knights lead ballooned to 30 at the end of the third quarter.

The Mount once again went on a run, scoring the first 10 points of the final stanza with Gabriella Rafaniello (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Pace, Bojka and Tabasco all getting in on the scoring. Julia Lavin (Ledyard, Conn.) scored back to back buckets as she finished the night with a career-high seven points. Cameron Villanueva (Columbia, Conn.) and Kaitlyn Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) scored the final three buckets of the game as the Knights rolled to a 56 point victory.

The Knights finished the second half shooting a blistering 62.5-percent from the field and knocked down five triples while holding the Golden Eagles to 25.0-percent from the field. The Mount knocked down two more threes and forced 10 turnovers in the half.

Desrats finished the contest with a career-high 14 points on 6-for-10 from the field, adding four assists and three rebounds. Cleare was 6-for-12 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season. Pace added 11 points while Bojka chipped in eight points and six rebounds. Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) had five points, four assists and four rebounds while Keenan finished with nine points and four boards.

Falacara led the Golden Eagles with 12 points, including four triples, and Signor added ten points and nine rebounds. Indence added a game-high five assists.

The Knights finished the night shooting a season-high 52.9-percent from the field and held St. Joseph's-L.I. to 28.3-percent shooting. The Mount outscored the Golden Eagles 14-3 in points off turnovers, outscored them 44-8 in points in the paint and outscored them in fast break points 24-2. Mount Saint Mary scored 43 points off the bench in the contest.

At 13-4 overall and 10-0 in conference, the Knights play host to the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday. Tip-off with the Dolphins is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the Kaplan Center.