Newburgh, N.Y. - The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team snapped its two game losing skid on Thursday evening as the Knights won a back and forth battle with Sage 68-65 at the Kaplan Center. Sophomore Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) led a balanced scoring attack with 16 points for Mount Saint Mary.

The first quarter started back and forth with Sage taking a 13-9 lead on a Gessica Patregnani three-pointer with 4:11 remaining. The Knights regained the lead at 14-13 on a Morina Bojka (Prospect, Conn.) jumper with just over a minute left in the quarter. Bojka then hit a buzzer beating three-pointer from just beyond the halfcourt line to give the Mount a 19-15 lead after one.

Following Bojka's bucket to start the second period, Sage rattled off seven straight points to regain the lead at the 3:31 mark of the quarter. Desrats buried a three-pointer to regain a two point lead and Toriana Tabasco (Hillsdale, N.J.) made a layup in the lane before the Gators scored the final four points of the quarter to bring the game even at the half. 

Bojka led the way with nine points in the first half while junior Gabriella Rafaniello (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added six points off the bench. Madisyn Bush scored nine points in the half for the Gators with Kaitlyn Bowman chipping in four points, four assists and seven rebounds. The Knights shot 31.4-percent from the field and two made threes with Sage finished at 27.3-percent from the field and one made three-pointer.

Sage jumped out to a five point lead multiple times in the first two minutes in the third quarter as Megan Flynn's lay-in with 8:13 remaining drove the lead to five for the second time. Mount Saint Mary countered with an 11-4 run over the next three minutes to hold a two-point lead following a pair of Annie Keenan (Nesconset, N.Y.) free throws.

The Gators then responded with a 9-0 run of its own, holding its largest lead of the contest 51-44 with 44 seconds remaining in the third quarter. Mount Saint Mary scored the first eight points of the final quarter to regain the lead once again with 7:03 left in the game. After a Bowman layup to tie the game at 54, the Mount went on a 12-3 run over the next five minutes to push its lead to a game-high nine points with 1:33 left in the game.

A three-pointer by Sammy Pasinella and a layup by Flynn cut the lead to four points with 39 seconds remaining. Free throws by Lyndsay Pace (Cranford, N.J.) and Desrats pushed the lead back to six before a three was hit by Patregnani with just seven seconds remaining. Sage got the final possesion with an opportunity to tie the game but the Knights defense did not allow the Gators to get a shot off before the clock expired.

Desrats and Pace led the way in the second half for the Mount as they each scored 13 points while Keenan added six points from the free throw line. Pasinella scored 14 points for Sage in the half as Bowman added eight. Mount Saint Mary shot 30.3-percent in the second half and made five threes with Sage shooting 51.9-percent and added four threes. The Gators were outscored by 10 points at the free throw line in the second half.

Desrats completed the evening with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting and three triples while Pace added 13 points and three assists. Bojka chipped in 12 points on 5-for-8 shooting while Tabasco added nine points and a team-high six rebounds. Pasinella finished with 18 points for the Gators and Bowman chipped in 12 points, 12 rebounds and six assists, good for a double-double.

Mount Saint Mary ended the game being outshot by Sage 38.3-percent to 30.9-percent but the Knights made two more threes and five more free throws in the contest. The Mount outscored Sage 27-2 in points off turnovers while points in the paint were even at 28. The Gators dominated the glass, outrebounding the Knights 59-30.

Thursday's victory pushes the Knights to 7-3 overall. Next up for the Mount is a return to Skyline Conference action at home against Farmingdale State on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off with the Rams at the Kaplan Center is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.