MSMC Blue Knights Defeat Saint Joseph 59-39

By Steven Merritt

WEST HARTFORD CT – Led by 16 points from sophomore Katie Smith, the Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team opened the 2018-19 season in impressive fashion with a 59-39 road win over the University of Saint Joseph.

The Knights closed out the first quarter on a 15-3 run to lead 19-10 and were paced by Elizabeth Limonta, who scored 8 points on a perfect 4-4 from the field.

Mount Saint Mary shot 41 percent from the field before halftime, jumping out to a 34-22 lead. The Knights defense forced 12 turnovers prior to the break.

The Knights put together a strong quarter in the third period, outscoring Saint Joseph 22-6. Smith rattled off 11 pts in the quarter, knocking down three, three-pointers.

Scoring was hard to come by in the fourth, with both teams combining with only 14 points. The Blue Jays outscored the Knights 11-3 in the quarter.

Smith finished 6-for-11 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from three, to go along with two rebounds and two assists. Freshman Lauren Desrats poured in 11 pts in her debut, knocking down three, three-pointers and added four rebounds to go along with two assists.

Limonta finished the day with 10 points and ripped down eight rebounds, with Kayla Cleare adding seven points, nine rebounds and two assists. Freshman Annie Keenan buried two three-pointers and added eight rebounds in her Mount Saint Mary debut. Newcomer Toriana Tabasco had the team-lead in steals with two.

Saint Joseph was led by 11 points from Cheyenne Mone-Smith, who also contributed a team-high seven rebounds and a team-high two assists. Silvana Barcomb scored seven points and made one of the two three-pointers for the Blue Jays.

Mount Saint Mary finished the game shooting 32.3-percent from the floor and held the Blue Jays to a 28.6-percent effort. The Knights blocked eight shots in the game and turned 22 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points and scored 18 points off 19 Saint Joseph turnovers. The Mount dominated the boards, out rebounding the Blue Jays, 53-38 and also knocked down 10 three-pointers to Saint Joseph’s two.

At 1-0 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary returns to action in their home opener against Misericordia on Saturday, November 17. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Kaplan Center.