Smith, McCann Net Career-Highs on Senior Day

NEWBURGH – Playing in their final regular season home game, Katie Smith and Katelyn McCann scored career-highs, finishing with 27 and 12 points, respectively, as the Mount Saint Mary College Women’s Basketball team closed the 2022-23 regular season with a 99-63 Senior Day victory over St. Joseph’s-Brooklyn.

Saturday’s win is the Mount’s third straight and pushes it to 18-5 overall on the season and 15-3 in Skyline Conference play. The Knights will be the third seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference Championship and will be in action on Tuesday at home with game time and opponent to be announced.

First Half
After falling behind 3-2 in the early going, the Mount put together an 11-0 run, capped by a three-point play from K. Smith to open a 13-3 advantage.

St. Joseph’s sliced their disadvantage to four on an Alexis Breen three-pointer with 3:34 left in the opening stanza.

Mount Saint Mary moved its advantage back to double-figures on a three-pointer from Ciarra Quinn, making the lead 24-14 with 1:40 left in the first quarter.

The Quinn triple started a 7-0 spurt that gave the Knights a 28-14 advantage following a Charlotte Twohig layup.

Emma Kiley brought the Bears to within 28-18 with 22 seconds left, but Cailean Nolan converted all three free-throws after being fouled at the horn on a triple try to give the Knights a 31-18 lead after 10 minutes.

Kaeli McAnally canned a three-pointer midway through the second period to move the Mount in front 39-20.

The lead reached 20 points for the first time on a K. Smith bucket that made the lead 41-21.

Smith would later convert a layup in the closing seconds of the half to send the Mount into the intermission with a 49-28 advantage.

Mount Saint Mary shot 47.5-percent overall in the opening 20 minutes and went 3-for-12 from three-point range.

St. Joseph’s was held to 33.3-percent shooting in the first half, including a 3-for-11 showing from long range.

Asia Rivera led the Mount at the half with 10 points.

Kiley scored seven first half points to lead the Bears.

Second Half
The Knights were never tested in the second half, quickly expanding the lead to 57-28 on a K. Smith jumper 1:26 into the third period.

K. Smith would later score nine straight points for the Mount to balloon the lead to 68-31 with 4:30 left in the quarter.

The Mount’s lead would not dip below 28 points the rest of the way and a Marissa Campbell layup just before the third quarter horn sent the Knights into the final 10 minutes leading 78-45.

The Mount’s lead grew to a game-high 38 points, at 96-58, on a McCann trey with 3:02 left to play.

Casey Love closed out the scoring in the game with a triple to give the Knights the final 99-63 lead.

Mount Saint Mary cooled to 37.5-percent shooting after halftime, but knocked down nine three-pointers in the second half.

St. Joseph’s improved to 45.2-percent shooting and connected on six three-pointers.

K. Smith totaled 18 points after halftime for the Knights.

McCann did all of her scoring in the second half.

Breen tallied 14 points for the Bears.

For The Knights
K. Smith reached her career-high point total on 11-for-21 shooting and she added five assists.

McCann wrapped up the victory 4-for-9 from three-point range, adding two rebounds and an assist.

Rivera and Erin Smith each scored 13 points with Rivera handing out two assists and E. Smith grabbing four rebounds.

Kate Hughes scored 11 points and closed out a double-double with 13 rebounds. Hughes finished off a strong game with three assists and four steals.

For The Bears
Breen knocked down four triples on her way to a team-high 20 points.

Grace Kennedy also connected on four triples, finishing with 13 points and nine rebounds.

Kiley totaled 10 points, including the 1,000th of her career, and chipped in nine rebounds and two blocks.

Ayomide Adeoye led the team with 10 rebounds and contributed seven points.

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