MSMC Knights Cruise to Eighth Straight Victory

NEWBURGH – Katie Smith led three players in double-figures with a game-high 19 points, including the 1,000th tally of her career, and Kate Hughes scored a career-high 18 points as the Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team scored its eighth straight victory with an impressive 77-51 win over St. Joseph’s-L.I. Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s win moves Mount Saint Mary to 12-3 overall and 9-1 in Skyline Conference play, while the Golden Eagles slip to 9-6 and 7-3 in conference competition.

First Half
A spirited first quarter saw the visitors hold an 18-16 lead after 10 minutes of play.

The two teams went back-and-forth over the opening 2:33 with a Megan Spina bucket for the visitors knotting the score at 5-5.

An Alyssa Adomaites three-pointer gave St. Joseph’s an 8-7 lead and a second triple from Adomaites pushed the Golden Eagles in front 11-9.

Following a K. Smith layup that knotted the score at 11-11, St. Joseph’s scored the next five points to jump in front 16-11 with 1:47 left in the first period.

Adomaites gave the visitors their largest lead of the game when she dropped in a jumper with 1:22 left in the first frame to give her team a 18-12 lead.

Mount Saint Mary answered with the final four points of the period, including a Hughes layup in the closing seconds, to pull to within 18-16 after 10 minutes of play.

After allowing St. Joseph’s to shoot better than 41-percent in the first quarter, the Knights put the clamps down on defense, surrendering just five points in the second stanza.

The Knights surrendered the first basket of the second quarter, but then ripped off 10 straight points to grab a 26-20 advantage with 5:45 left before halftime.

After gaining the lead, the Knights would not trail again in the game and scored the final six points of the quarter to spread its lead to a half-high 32-23 at the intermission.

Mount Saint Mary shot just 29.5-percent in the opening 20 minutes and went 1-for-13 from three-point range, but made four more field goals than St. Joseph’s and outscored the Golden Eagles 5-1 from the free-throw line.

The Golden Eagles were held to 18.2-percent shooting in the second quarter and finished the first half shooting 32.1-percent.

Second Half
The Knights used a huge third quarter, pouring in 28 points, to open the game up in the second half.

The Mount scored 10 of the first 12 points coming out of halftime, including six from

Hughes, to surge in front 42-25 with 7:26 left in the third period.

The advantage grew to 50-30 on another Hughes conversion midway through the quarter before grabbing a 58-32 lead on a Lauren Desrats triple with 1:19 left in the stanza.

A Charlotte Twohig conversion early in the fourth period ballooned the lead to 66-39.
Cailean Nolan buried a three-pointer with 2:28 left to give the Knights a game-high 77-48 advantage.

Mount Saint Mary improved to 54.8-percent shooting after halftime and knocked in a trio of three-pointers.

St. Joseph’s was held to 8-for-32 shooting after halftime, including 1-for-8 from three-point range.

Hughes led the Mount with 15 seconds half points, going a perfect 6-for-6 from the floor.

K. Smith scored 12 second half points, including the 1,000th of her career on a three-point play with 4:06 left to play.

For The Knights
Hughes closed the day 7-for-8 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line on her way to a career-high point total. She finished off a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds and added two steals.

K. Smith led all players in the game with 19 points to go along with six assists. Smith becomes the 18th 1,000-point scorer at the Mount since the start of the 1991-92 season.

Rivera scored in double-figures for the fifth straight game, totaling 10 points. Rivera added five rebounds and a career-high seven steals.

Brianna Guglielmo chipped in six points and nine caroms.

Kaeli McAnally handed out four assists and scored four points.

For The Golden Eagles
Adomaites led the team with 12 points and handed out two assists.

Lanyah Ford and Julianna Knice each collected seven rebounds with Ford scoring nine points and Knice handing out three assists.