Knights Exit ECAC Tournament in Semifinals

By D.J. Bevivino

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite a valiant effort, the Mount Saint Mary College Knights (18-9) fell to Baruch College (17-11) by a score of 55-49 in the semifinals of the ECAC Division III Women’s Basketball Tournament.

The Knights struggled to find their rhythm early in the game, ending the period tied 9-9 in the first quarter. However, although they battled in the second quarter, they were outscored by Baruch 10-15 going into halftime down by 5.

The third quarter the Knights continued to find themselves behind going down an additional 4 points. However, during the fourth quarter the fire was finally lit under the Knights and they outscored the Bearcats 18-9. With a very late basket by Brianna Guglielmo the Knights tied the score and sent the game to over time. First-year coach, Marion Dietz, tried to rally the team to keep the momentum going, but the buckets just didn’t fall for the Mount. The Bearcats outscored the Knights, 11-5 and ended the post-season run for the team.

Mount Saint Mary College head coach Marion Dietz said, “Good experience for us. Another dose of post-season play to help us grow as we move forward into the off-season. Today we just struggled to meet the intensity for the first 27 minutes of the game. We learned a lot over the last two weeks about how to play in these moments and I’m very hopeful and excited to see how we use this to motivate yourselves over the next several months. This team has been incredible all year and it truly has been a privilege to coach them. They work hard, love to compete, want to learn, and they make it so easy to come to work every day and want to get better. The future is extremely bright here, and we as a coaching staff can’t wait to continue to build on this and for the future!”