MSMC Blue Knights Lose Home Opener in Hard Fought Battle

NEWBURGH – The Mount Saint Mary College women’s basketball team lost a close battle with Skidmore College in their season opener at home.

Mount Saint Mary came out hungry as their ending to last season left a bad taste in their mouth. The Knights defense put the clamps on Skidmore as the Thoroughbreds only scored six points in the opening quarter, and did not score until the 2:38 mark. Elizabeth Lofaro, one half of the Lofaro sisters tandem, got off to a good start, knocking down her first of four threes on the night to score the first points of the season for Mount Saint Mary.

Skidmore bounced back late in the quarter to tie things up 6-6, but the Knights would go up 9-6 after the first 10 minutes of play. Grad student Erin Lofaro began to heat up as her an Elizabeth accounted for all but two of the Knights points in the second quarter. As expected, this was a close match throughout as the Mount went into the half up 22-19.

Sara Cashin got the Knights going to start the third quarter with a layup to put them up two. They led by as much as six in the quarter, but Skidmore stayed with them. Junior guard Brianna Guglielmo was a horse on the glass for Mount Saint Mary, securing eight boards as well as making numerous hustle plays for the Knights. The Mount found themselves down a point heading into the fourth as Shannon Phelan hit a big three with 17 seconds left on the clock. Elizabeth Lofaro continued to light it up from beyond the arc in the fourth, knocking down two threes to keep the Knights in the game. The problem was Mount Saint Mary struggled offensively in the last 10 minutes, shooting just 28.5% from the field in the last quarter. The match was much closer than the final score dictates, as Skidmore converted on five of their free throw attempts from take fouls to win the match 61-49.