Knights Thwarted On The Road Against Manhattanville

By Steven Merritt

PURCHASE – The Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team suffered its second conference loss of the season on Saturday as the Knights dropped a road tilt against Manhattanville 77-56. Sophomore Annie Keenan recorded her seventh double-double of the season in the defeat.

The Mount scored the first two buckets of the contest as Morina Bojka and Keenan each made jumpers to take an early lead. After a back and forth first four minutes, the Valiants lead ballooned to six on an Amanda Pemberton layup with 3:48 to go in the quarter. Following two free throws from sophomore Toriana Tabasco, Manhattanville ended the quarter on 8-2 run, giving the Valiants a 10 point lead after one quarter.

The Knights cut the lead back down to six to start the second quarter on a jumper from Keenan and two more free throws from Tabasco. Manhattanville then ripped off a 9-0 run to push its lead to 15 points before Keenan knocked down a three-pointer to end the run. Mount Saint Mary ended the quarter on a 7-1 run over the final three minutes to cut the lead to single digits heading into the half.

The Mount finished at 37.0-percent from the field in the first half and was just 2-for-7 from the three-point line. The Valiants shot 48.3-percent in the first half and only made one three-pointer.

The Knights once again cut the lead down to six points on a Keenan layup with 6:53 remaining in the third quarter. Manhattanville’s lead grew back to nine multiple times over the next three minutes as a Lauren Desrats lay-in kept the lead in single digits with 3:15 left. The Valiants responded by scoring the final 11 points of the quarter and held a 20 point advantage after three quarters.

Manhattanville’s lead never fell below 17 points in the fourth quarter as a Sarah Coutu free throw pushed the Valiants lead to a game-high 26 points with 4:41 to go in the fourth quarter. Mount Saint Mary was held to 36.1-percent shooting and was just 1-for-9 from three-point range. Manhattanville shot 46.8-percent in the second half and finished 6-for-9 from three-point territory.

Keenan completed her strong afternoon with 20 points and 10 rebounds to secure her seventh double-double of the season. She also swiped five steals while Tabasco added eight points, eight rebounds and five steals. Desrats handed out a team-high three assists.

Coutu finished with a game-high 24 points for Manhattanville as she added five assists. Faith Johnson-Desilvia added 16 points, five assists and eight rebounds while Amanda Pemberton chipped in 14 points and nine points. Jamie Smith registered a double-double of her own off the bench with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Valiants.

Mount Saint Mary finished the day shooting 36.5-percent from the field and was just 3-for-16 from three-point territory. The Valiants shot 47.6-percent on the day and shot 50.0-percent from the three-point line. Manhattanville outscored the Knights 19-10 in points off turnovers and 17-3 in second chance points.

Saturday’s loss moves the Mount to 17-5 overall and 12-2 in Skyline Conference action. Next up for the Knights is a home contest against the United States Merchant Marine Academy next Saturday Tip-off on Senior Day is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the Kaplan Center.