Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team outscored Manhattanville 22-7 in the third period on Thursday on its way to a 70-61 home victory over the Valiants in a battle of the top two teams in the Skyline Conference standings.
Morina Bojka (Prospect, Conn.) continued her strong season with 22 points and 12 rebounds as the Knights moved their winning streak to eight contests.
Thursday's win pushes Mount Saint Mary to 12-2 overall and a perfect 10-0 in conference play, while Mahattanville falls to 11-3 and 7-2 in league action.
First Half
- A tightly contested first 20 minutes saw the two teams head to the intermission knotted at 34-34.
- The lead changed hands three times in the opening period with last lead change coming on a Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) jumper that moved the Mount in front 13-11.
- The Knights lead grew to 14-11 before a pair of Faith Johnson-Desilvia free-throws brought the Valiants to within 14-13 after 10 minutes of play.
- Mount Saint Mary shot 37.5-percent from the floor in the opening period and connected on one of its four three-point attempts.
- Manhattanville converted at 30.8-percent in the opening period, hitting one triple and going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line.
- The second stanza featured six ties and was played within a four-point window.
- Manhattanville grabbed its largest lead of the half at the 3:31 mark of the quarter when Ali Mikaele hit a pair of free-throws to give the visitors a 27-23 advantage.
- Mount Saint Mary answered with the next six points, including a Ciarra Quinn (Bayside, N.Y.) conversion to give the Knights back a 29-27 edge with 1:27 left before halftime.
- Manhattanville answered with a three-point play from Johnson-Desilvia to move back in front 31-30 and grabbed a 34-31 lead with 14 seconds left on a Kristen Scrobola lay-in.
- Trailing by three-points, Bojka canned a three-pointer in the closing seconds to pull the Mount even at 34-34 after 20 minutes of play.
- Manhattanville shot a scoring 70-percent from the floor in the second period and went 6-for-7 from the free-throw line.
- Mount Saint Mary shot 47.6-percent in the second frame and hit on a pair of triples.
- Bojka led the Knights with 15 first half tallies.
- Johnson-Desilvia led all players at the break with 18 points.
Second Half
- Coming out of halftime, Mount Saint Mary quickly fell behind by two before scoring the next six points on three-pointers from Shannon Phelan (Tappan, N.Y.) and Toriana Tabasco (Hillsdale, N.J.) to grab a 40-36 lead.
- Manhattanville pulled to within 40-38 before the Knights scored the next four points to pull in front 44-38.
- The Knights pushed their lead to double-figures for the first time when Erin Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) and Gabriella Rafaniello (Brooklyn, N.Y.) canned back-to-back triples to give the Knights a 51-40 lead with 1:10 left in the quarter.
- The lead ballooned to 56-41 at the third quarter horn when Bojka hit a triple at the buzzer to cap 12-1 closing run in the period.
- Mount Saint Mary shot an even 50-percent in the third period, including a 5-for-8 effort from three-point range.
- Manhattanville was limited to 16.7-percent shooting in the third, going just 3-for-18 from the floor.
- Mount Saint Mary did not let its advantage fall below seven points in the fourth frame and held a lead as large as 14 points five times in the period.
- The Valiants closed to within 68-61 on a Jamison Agostio triple with 1:19 left to play, but a pair of Bojka free-throws pushed the Mount's advantage to the final 70-61 decision.
- Mount Saint Mary cooled to 29.4-percent shooting in the fourth period.
- Manhattanville shot 33.3-percent in the final 10 minutes.
For The Knights
- Bojka reached at least 20 points in a game for the fourth time this season, leading the team with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Bojka finished 8-for-13 from the field with two triples and finished off a strong all-around game with four assists and four blocked shots.
- K. Smith reached double-figures for the third straight game with 14 points, going 6-for-14 from the floor to go along with five rebounds.
- Tabasco chipped in nine points, five rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
- Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) finished up with five points, seven caroms and a pair of thefts.
For The Valiants
- Johnson-Desilvia led all scorers with 23 points, adding five rebounds, two assists and four steals.
- Scobola and Claudia Valentin each collected seven rebounds.
- Mikaele and Agostino each finished the night with eight points.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary finished the victory shooting 40.9-percent overall and hit nine three-pointers.
- Manhattanville converted at 33.9-percent overall and went 4-for-11 from three-point range.
- The Valiants outscored the Knights 15-7 from the free-throw line with the Mount shooting just 35-percent from the stripe.
- The Knights closed the evening with a 25-19 edge in points off of turnovers and a 26-20 advantage in paint points.
What's Next
- The Knights begin a three-game road trip at the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday.
- The Valiants host Old Westbury Saturday afternoon.
