Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team overcame two nine-point deficits in the third quarter and outscored Manhattanville 17-8 in the final period on the way to a hard fought 63-57 win over the Valiants in the Semifinal Round of the 2022 Skyline Conference Championship.
Morina Bojka (Prospect, Conn.) led three Knights in double-figures with 19 points.
Thursday's win is the Mount's 10
th straight and improves it to 22-3 overall on the season. Manhattanville had a three-game run stopped and drops to 19-8 overall.
First Half
- Manhattanville got off to a fast start with back-to-back buckets from Kristen Scrobola and Claudia Valentin to open a quick 4-0 lead.
- The Valiants maintained the early advantage until a Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) jumper knotted the score at 8-8 with 6:00 left in the opening period.
- The Knights took their first lead of the game on a Bojka triple at the 4:55 mark that moved the Knights in front 11-8.
- Bojka moved the Mount in front 16-12 on another triple at the 3:35 mark of the first period.
- Manhattanville answered with the next six points to pull back in front 18-16 on a Niyona Smith conversion at the 1:02 mark of the period.
- Mount Saint Mary grabbed the lead back in the final minute with a free-throw and bucket from Bojka to send the Knights into the second stanza with a slim 19-18 advantage.
- The two sides traded buckets over the first 1:07 of the second period with Shannon Phelan (Tappan, N.Y.) giving the Mount a 23-20 lead with a layup at the 8:15 mark.
- Mount Saint Mary spread its lead to a half-high five points twice in the final 4:50 of the second stanza, including on a Desrats jumper at the 3:46 mark that gave the Knights a 31-26 advantage.
- Manhattanville stormed back with the final nine points of the period to head into the intermission with a 35-31 lead. Spencer Shore led the charge with six points on a three-pointer and a trio of free-throws.
- Mount Saint Mary finished the opening 20 minutes shooting 46.7-percent overall and went2-for-5 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville shot just 31.7-percent overall with a single three-pointer while outscoring the Knights 8-1 from the free-throw line.
- Bojka led all scorers with 11 points at the break on 4-for-6 shooting with a pair of triples.
- Faith Johnson-Desilvia led the Valiants with nine points.
Second Half
- Manhattanville came out of the break with the first five points on a Scrobola bucket and a triple from Shore to open a 40-31 advantage at the 7:21 mark of the third stanza.
- The Valiants matched their largest lead of the game on a Johnson-Desilvia jumper with 6:13 left in the period that gave the visitors a 42-33 lead.
- The Knights battled back to within two points on a Bojka bucket with 4:12 left before five straight points from Manhattanville spread the lead back to 47-40 with just over three minutes left in the third stanza.
- The Valiants would not surrender the lead in the third, but a Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) jumper with 1:11 left brought the Mount to within 49-46 after 30 minutes of play.
- The Knights trailed until Desrats canned a triple at the 7:21 mark of the fourth period to grab a 52-51 advantage, their first lead since 31-30 with just under three minutes left in the second quarter.
- Mount Saint Mary would not trail again following the Desrats triple.
- The Valiants knotted the score at 53-53, but the Mount answered with a 9-0 run, capped by a Desrats layup, to grab its largest lead of the night at 62-53 with 2:57 left in regulation time.
- Manhattanville battled back to within five points with a minute left, but a Bojka free-throw with 14 seconds remaining sealed the victory for the Mount.
- The Knights shot 35.5-percent from the floor in the second half and 2-for-9 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville was limited to 28.0-percent shooting after halftime, making four fewer field goals than the Mount, and connecting on a pair of triples.
- Desrats scored 10 points in the second half, including two big three-pointers.
- Mount Saint Mary outscored Manhattanville after the break 32-22.
For The Knights
- Bojka paced the scoring attack with 19 points on 6-for-10 shooting, adding seven rebounds, two assists and three steals.
- Desrats scored in double-figures for the ninth time this season with 16 points on the strength of 7-for-15 shooting, including two triples, to go along with six rebounds and three steals.
- Smith chipped in 10 points and three assists.
- Annie Keenan (Nesconset, N.Y.) had a big night with nine points, a game-high 10 rebounds and career-high five blocked shots.
- Asia Rivera (Saddle Brook, N.J.) came off the bench to produce four points, four rebounds and three assists.
For The Valiants
- Manhattanville was led by 13 points from Johnson-Desilvia who also handed out two assists.
- Shore contributed 11 points and seven rebounds.
- Ali Mikaele just missed a double-double with 10 points and a team-high nine caroms.
- Scrobola totaled nine points and five rebounds.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary shot 41-percent from the floor and finished 4-for-14 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville was held to 30.3-percent shooting and a 3-for-10 effort from three-point range.
- Mount Saint Mary forced 18 turnovers leading to a 21-12 edge in points off of miscues.
- The Knights held the edge in the paint 32-24.
- The Valiants collected 17 offensive rebounds leading to a 16-6 edge in second chance scoring.
What's Next
- The Knights will make their third appearance in the Skyline Conference Championship Final in the last four years there was a tournament on Saturday when they play host to second seed USMMA. Tip-off from the Kaplan Center is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
