MSMC Pulls Away For Victory At Sarah Lawrence

BRONXVILLE – Behind 18 points from Erin Smith and 11 points off the bench from Cailean Nolan, the Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team stopped a two-game slide with a 78-45 road Skyline Conference victory at Sarah Lawrence Saturday afternoon.

Saturday’s victory improves Mount Saint Mary to 16-5 overall on the season and to 13-3 in Skyline Conference play, while Sarah Lawrence falls to 7-15 and 5-12 in conference competition.

First Half
A sluggish first quarter, saw the Knights open a 13-9 lead after 10 minutes of action.

After going scoreless for the first 4:15 of the contest, Lauren Desrats got the Mount on the board and evened the score at 2-2.

The Knights would pull in front for good in the game following back-to-back conversions from E. Smith that moved the Mount in front 6-2.

Smith converted another layup at the 3:31 mark of the first period to open a 10-4 advantage for the Mount.

Sarah Lawrence sliced its deficit to 10-9 on a Kumi Tamura three-pointer in the final minute of the first quarter.

Nolan drained a triple of her own with 21 seconds left in the period to send the Knights to the second stanza with the 13-9 advantage.

The Knights scored the first eight points of the second period, including six points from Charlotte Twohig, to push their advantage to 21-9 with 6:13 left before the intermission.

The Gryphons got the disadvantage down to seven points on a Kaila Dorch bucket, but five straight points from E. Smith got the Mount back out in front by double-figures at 26-14.

Sarah Lawrence would battle back to within five points twice late in the second period, but a E. Smith layup with 13 seconds left sent the Knights to the break with a 32-23 lead.

The Knights shot 38.5-percent in the opening 20 minutes, but an even 50-percent in the second quarter to build the halftime advantage.

The Gryphons were held to 30.4-percent shooting prior to the break, but hit on three of their nine three-point field goal attempts.

Sarah Lawrence outscored the Mount from the free-throw line 6-0 in the first half.

Second Half
After scoring 32 points over the first two quarters, the Mount put up 25 points on 10-for-21 shooting, including 4-for-8 from three-point range, in the third quarter.

E. Smith open the scoring in the second half to move the Knights in front 34-23 and an Asia Rivera three-pointer 3:59 into the frame pushed the lead out to 43-29.

A Twohig triple at the 2:34 mark of the third quarter got the Knights in front 54-35 and a Kaeli McAnally trey with 1:16 left in the frame made the score 57-37.

Sarah Lawrence scored the final three points of the third to get to within 17 points, the closet it would get the rest of the way.

Mount Saint Mary closed out a dominate second half shooting 46.7-percent in the fourth quarter, hitting on three more triples.

The Knights scored the first seven points of the final frame to build the lead to 65-40 on a Kate Hughes bucket with 6:19 left to play.

The lead ballooned to 75-43 on a Nolan triple and reached a game-high 35 points, at 78-43, on a Katelyn McCann triple with 64 seconds left in the contest.

Sarah Lawrence would get a Dorch layup in the final half minute, its only field goal of the period, to close the gap to the final 33-point decision.

Mount Saint Mary shot 47.2-percent after halftime, including a 7-for-15 showing from three-point range.

Sarah Lawrence was held to 20.7-percent shooting in the second half, including 1-for-13 in the fourth period.

For The Knights
E. Smith equaled her career-high with 18 points after going 8-for-14 from the floor with a three-pointer. She closed the victory with three steals.

Nolan was the only other Knight to score in double-figures, netting 11 points on the strength of 3-for-5 shooting from three-point range.

Desrats closed the victory with nine points and six rebounds.

Hughes registered nine points, three rebounds and a pair of steals.

Rivera posted a team-high seven rebounds, chipped in five points and swiped a career-high nine steals.

Katie Smith contributed seven points and five assists.

Twohig rounded out the victory with nine points, four rebounds and three thefts.

For The Gryphons
Kendall Haymore recorded a double-double with a team-high 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.

Dorch scored 10 points off the bench and secured eight rebounds.