Newburgh, N.Y. - The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team earned a hard fought victory over the United States Merchant Marine Academy 53-49 on Senior Day at the Kaplan Center. Sophomore Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) tallied a team-high 12 points as seniors Taylor O'Brien (Bellmore, N.Y.) and Lyndsay Pace (Cranford, N.J.) were honored before the game.

The game begun at a back and forth pace with the Mariners taking a 10-5 lead on a Madison Demos layup with 5:23 remaining in the first quarter. The Knights brought the game back to a 10-10 tie on a Desrats three-pointer just under a minute later. Following a Taylor Hightower bucket to regain the lead, the Mount ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a five point lead after one quarter.

The Mount's lead was cut to three points on two Hightower free throws with 7:26 remaining but the Knights pushed the lead back out to seven points multiple times in the second quarter. Mount Saint Mary took its largest lead of the first half on a three-pointer by O'Brien with 39 seconds left in the half. The Mariners were held to just one made field goal in the final four minutes of the second quarter.

Desrats led the way for the Knights with eight points in the first half while Toriana Tabasco (Hillsdale, N.J.) was perfect from the field with seven points. Mount Saint Mary shot 44.8-percent from the field in the half and made four triples. Merchant Marine was led by Kaleigh D'Arcy, who tallied 10 points in the half, as the Mariners shot 34.5-percent as a team and made three three-pointers.

USMMA scored the first six points coming out of the half to cut the Knights lead to two points with 7:48 left in the quarter. A jumper by Gabriella Rafaniello (Brooklyn, N.Y.) ended the quick Mariners run but USMMA tied the game at 36 on a Demos jumper with four minutes to go. The Mount scored two buckets over the final four minutes to push the lead to four points while the Mariners were held scoreless in the final four minutes.

Morina Bojka (Prospect, Conn.) drilled a three-pointer to start the final quarter as USMMA scored its first points in over seven minutes on a Demos lay-in with 7:02 left in the game. Mount Saint Mary's lead did not fall below six points until two D'Arcy free throws with 16 seconds remaining. The Mariners cut the lead to four points with 10 seconds left on another D'Arcy bucket but USMMA could not score in the final seconds.

Bojka tallied five points in the second half for the Knights as the Mount's shooting percentage cooled to 25.0-percent and was just 2-for-14 from three-point range. D'Arcy tallied 11 points in the second half for Merchant Marine as the Mariners also struggled from the field at 23.5-percent and was 0-for-9 from three.

Desrats tallied 12 points on 5-for-9 from the field and added five rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Bojka added 10 points and six rebounds while Tabasco added eight points and two steals. Pace finished her senior day with seven points and a team-high three steals. Kaitlyn Wolff (Holtsville, N.Y.) handed out a team-high three assists.

D'Arcy finished with a strong double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds while Hightower added 13 points, nine boards, three assists and three blocks. Demos finished with nine points and 13 rebounds for USMMA.

Mount Saint Mary finished shooting 35.1-percent from the field and was 6-for-26 from three while the Mariners finished up at 28.6-percent and 3-for-15 from three-point range. The Knights held a slim edge in points off turnovers at 12-11 while points in the paint were even at 26. USMMA held the edge in second chance points by two and fast break points by six.

With Saturday's win, the Mount gains sole possesion of first place at 18-5 overall and 16-2 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is the regular season finale against Sarah Lawrence on Tuesday evening. Tip-off with the Gryphons is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. at the Kaplan Center.