MSMC Blue Knights Topple Vassar Brewers, 67-53

NEWBURGH – The Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team picked up its third straight win to open the season on Tuesday night with an impressive 67-53 home non-conference victory over Vassar. Sophomore Kayla Cleare turned in a strong performance with 20 points and 17 rebounds.

The Knights trailed just once in the game, falling behind 8-7 on a three-point play from Vassar’s Ariella Rosenthal in the early stages of the first period. The Mount responded with a quick 8-0 run capped by a Maite Gritsko lay-in with just under four minutes left in the quarter.

Vassar would get back to within three points twice in the closing minutes of the opening period, including on a Maeve Sussman conversion with 96 seconds left to close to within 19-16 after 10 minutes of play.

The Knights would dominate the second stanza, allowing only two Vassar points on their way to a 30-18 halftime advantage. The Brewers went 1-for-14 from the floor in the second 10 minutes with their only field goal coming on a Sophie Nick bucket with 4:40 left before halftime.

Mount Saint Mary ballooned its lead to 10 points on a Cleare jumper with just over five minutes left in the period and took its largest lead of the half when Megan Kerutis closed the scoring with 3:09 left before the break.

The Mount shot 43.3-percent from the floor prior to the intermission with Cleare leading the way with nine points and nine rebounds. Rosenthal led all scorers at the break for Vassar with 10 points as the Brewers were held to 24.1-percent shooting in the first half.

Vassar used a 7-0 spurt in the middle stages of the third period to climb back to within four points on a Nicole Teta triple, but the Knights answered with an 11-5 stretch to close the quarter to push its lead back to double-figures at 47-37.

The Knights jumped out to a 16 points lead on a Cleare conversion with just under five minutes left in the final period and moved in front 63-43 on a Gritsko free-throw. The lead would grow to a game-high 22 points twice in the final 1:43, once on a pair of Gritsko free-throws with 1:43 left and again on a two Janae Graham conversions from the charity stripe with 47 seconds left.

Cleare finished the game 7-for-16 from the field for the Knights and 6-for-9 from the free-throw line on her way to season-highs in both scoring and rebounding. She added an assists and a block for the Mount in the win.

Kerutis scored in double-figures for the second time in three games this season, matching her season-high with 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the floor. She added four rebounds and a pair of assists in the winning effort.

Jordyn Hellpap and Gritsko each scored seven points for the Knights with Gritsko pacing the team with three assists and Hellpap collecting a team-high three steals.

Vassar was led by 16 points from Rosenthal and received 13 points from Samarah Cook, who also led all players in the game with five assists.

For the game, Mount Saint Mary shot just over 40-percent from the floor and outrebounded Vassar 45-35, securing 10 offensive rebounds. The Knights outscored the visitors 32-18 in the paint and 11-7 in second chance scoring.

At 3-0 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will be off until December 1 when they open Skyline Conference play against Sage. Tip-off with the Gators at the Kaplan Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.