Purchase, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team was eliminated from the 2023 Skyline Conference Championship Thursday night following a 78-55 semifinal loss at second seed Manhattanville.
Asia Rivera (Saddle Brook, N.J.) led the Mount's offense with 11 points.
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Thursday's loss stops a four-game winning streak for the Knights and drops them to 19-6 overall. Manhattanville scored its eighth straight victory and advances to the Skyline Conference Championship Final with a 21-3 overall record.
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First Half
- After falling behind 5-2 in the early going, the Knights ripped off six straight points to grab an 8-5 lead on a Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) jumper with 5:34 left in the opening frame.
- Desrats would connect on back-to-back three-pointers around a Niyona Smith conversion for the Valiants to push the Mount in front 14-9 with 4:38 left in the period.
- Following the second Desrats triple, Manhattanville closed the first quarter with an 8-3 stretch to knot the score at 17-17 after 10 minutes of action.
- A Brianna Guglielmo (Smithtown, N.Y.) bucket with 3:26 left in the quarter proved to be the Mount's final field goal of frame.
- Manhattanville pulled to within 16-15 on a N. Smith lay-in and after a Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) free-throw gave the Knights a 17-15 lead, Smith closed out the scoring in the quarter in the final half minute with a layup to even the game at 17-17.
- Manhattanville went on to shoot 53.8-percent from the floor in the second quarter on its way to outscoring the Mount 20-9.
- After the two sides traded buckets to begin the quarter, Manhattanville scored the next six points, including a triple from Jamison Agostino, to grab a 25-19 lead.
- The Knights climbed back to within 26-25 on a Kate Hughes (Belle Harbor, N.Y.) layup with 4:19 left in the stanza.
- Following the Hughes bucket, Manhattanville scored 11 straight points to open a 36-25 lead on a Gabby Tucker three-point play with 30 seconds remaining in the half.
- Ciarra Quinn (Bayside, N.Y.) and Livi Correria traded free-throws over the final 11 seconds to send the two teams into the intermission with Manhattanville leading 37-26.
- Mount Saint Mary was held to 31.0-percent shooting in the opening 20 minutes, including 3-for-13 in the second quarter, and went 2-for-8 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville shot an efficient 53.8-percent and knocked down three triples.
- Desrats and Hughes led the way for the Mount with eight points apiece.
- N. Smith poured in 13 points on 6-for-8 shooting in the first half for the Valiants.
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Second Half
- The Valiants broke the game open in the third, holding the Knights without a field goal in 17 attempts, on their way to outscoring the Mount 17-5.
- Manhattanville scored the first four points of the third quarter to build a 42-27 advantage.
- Following a Rivera free-throw with 6:29 left in the frame, the Valiants went on an 8-2 run, highlighted by another Agostino three-pointer, to surge in front 49-29 at the 2:19 mark.
- K. Smith hit a pair of free-throws at the 1:17 mark before the Valiants scored the final five points of the quarter, including an Amanda Orlando layup in the closing seconds, to head to the final 10 minutes leading 54-31.
- Mount Saint Mary would not be able to cut its disadvantage under 20 points in the fourth quarter, getting the score to 56-36 on a K. Smith triple 1:36 into the final frame.
- Manhattanville responded with the next eight points, capped by an Agostino bucket with 5:25 left, to grab a game-high 64-36 lead.
- The Knights would get back to within 22 points on three occasions the rest of the way, before an Orlando free-throw with 16 seconds left gave Manhattanville the final 78-55 decision.
- Mount Saint Mary went just 7-for-37 from the floor in the second half, including 3-for-19 from three-point range.
- Manhattanville improved its shooting to 55.6-percent in the second half despite a 1-for-7 effort from three-point range.
- Phelan scored 10 points in the second half for the Mount on 4-for-6 shooting.
- Juliana Kascic went 7-for-8 from the floor after halftime on her way to 15 seconds half points.
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For The Knights
- Rivera led the way with 11 points on the strength of 6-for-10 shooting from the free-throw line. Rivera added two rebounds and a pair of steals for the Mount.
- Phelan did all of her scoring in the second half, finishing 4-for-7 from the field.
- K. Smith totaled nine points, four assists and three rebounds.
- Desrats and Hughes both finished with eight points, with Desrats leading the Mount with five rebounds and three steals.
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For The Valiants
- Kascic led all scorers with 20 points and closed a double-double with 11 rebounds. The Skyline Conference leader in field goal percentage finished the night 9-for-11 from the floor, adding two assists.
- N. Smith scored 15 points on 6-for-9 shooting to go along with eight rebounds and three blocks.
- Agostino hit three of the team's four triples on her way to 13 points.
- Tucker scored 11 points and collected five rebounds off the bench.
- Correia led all players in the game with 12 rebounds and six assists.
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Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary shot 24.2-percent overall in the game (16-for-66), its second lowest mark of the season. The Knights went 4-for-15 from three-point range and 16-for-30 from the free-throw line.
- Manhattanville shot 54.7-percent, the highest mark of the season allowed by the Mount.
- Manhattanville dominated the boards with a 55-27 advantage in rebounding, including 13 offensive caroms.
- Second chance points went to Manhattanville 17-10.
- The Valiants controlled the paint, finishing with a 44-18 scoring advantage inside.
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What's Next
- The top two seeds will vie for the Skyline Conference Championship on Saturday when Manhattanville travels to USMMA.
