Knights Upended by Christopher Newport

By Steven Merritt

GETTYSBURG, PA. – The Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team had its season come to an end on Saturday as they lost to Christopher Newport 79-52. Senior Kayla Cleare finished with her tenth double-double of the season in her final collegiate contest.

The Captains started the contest on a 7-0 run from five quick points from Jessica Daguilh before Lyndsay Pace knocked down two free throws at the 5:14 mark. The Knights responded with a 7-0 run as Morina Bojka’s layup gave the Knights their only lead of the contest at the 1:10 mark of the first quarter.

After Christopher Newport opened the lead back up to seven on a Jessica Foster three-pointer to start the second quarter, the Knights cut the lead back to two on a Katie Smith triple and a Cleare lay in.

The Captains then rattled off a 14-0 run to push the lead up to 16 points as they hit three triples during the run. Christopher Newport pushed the lead to a first half high 17 points after a mid range jumper by Natalie Terwilliger.

The Captains shot 41.2-percent in the first half and made five threes as the Knights shot only 8-for-34 in the half. The Mount also committed 12 turnovers in the half. Cleare finished the half with eight points and seven rebounds while Smith had five and Bojka and Pace each had four.

A Daguilh layup pushed the lead to 19 points at the 4:53 mark of the third quarter as the lead shrunk to only 15 points following a Cleare free throw. Marlise Brunson’s layup moved the lead to 20 but a Pace triple before the end of the quarter cut the lead to 17.

Christopher Newport began the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run as Foster buried two threes and Terwilliger scored two buckets during the run. Meggie Burgess’ free throw put the Captains up a game-high 33 points with 2:29 left in the contest.

The Mount scored nine of the last 12 points scored in the game as freshman Julia Lavin and Cameron Villanueva scored five points in the final two minutes.

The Knights improved to 35.5-percent shooting in the second half and slowed the Captains down to 36.8-percent in the half. Christopher Newport made six threes in the half and outrebounded the Knights 28-21. Smith added seven points in the second half and Cleare had six points and four boards.

Cleare finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in her final game as a Knight and Smith added 12 points and two assists. Pace chipped in nine points and four boards as Elizabeth Limonta added eight rebounds.

Terwilliger and Foster finished with 18 points apiece off the bench as Foster hit six threes in the game. Daguilh added 10 points and nine rebounds. Terwilliger chipped in 12 rebounds, good for a double-double in 16 minutes played.

The Knights finished the contest shooting only 29.2-percent from the field and were held to 2-for-15 from the three-point line. The Mount shot 12-for-24 from the free-throw line while the Captains knocked down 11 threes in the game.

Christopher Newport converted 24 points off turnovers and the Captains outscored the Knights by a slim margin of 30-28.

Mount Saint Mary’s season comes to an end at 23-6 overall, good for the most wins since the 2011-12 season.