Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team picked up its second straight victory on Saturday afternoon with a tough 58-53 victory over St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) recorded her third straight double-double and Sarah Kluth (Lynbrook, N.Y.) grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds in the win.
The two teams struggled to score all afternoon as the first hoop of the contest did not come until the 17:59 mark of the first half when Teresa Mangan drilled a triple to give the Lady Bears a 3-0 lead early on. The Dolphins would not get on the board until a McNish free-throw at the 16:45 mark and would not grab their first lead until an Andree Deleon (Flushing, N.Y.) jumper pushed the Mount in front 5-4 with just over 15 minutes left until halftime.
Mount Saint Vincent would extend its lead to six points at the 12:17 mark after an Amy Delva (Nanuet, N.Y.) free-throw which gave the Dolphins their largest lead of the first half. The Mount would not lose the lead until a Tara Gleason triple with 7:43 left in the period and from their would be in front just on other time in the half as St. Joseph's carried a 28-24 lead into the locker room.
The Lady Bears quickly jumped out to their largest lead of the afternoon inside the first half minute after the break and would hold on to the advantage until Delva knocked down a jumper to put the Dolphins in front 34-33 with 14:30 left in regulation. St. Joseph's quickly regained the lead on an Ashley McQuillan fast break basket and would not fall behind again until a pair of DeLeon free-throws with 8:42 remaining.
The two free-throws from DeLeon would prove to give Mount Saint Vincent a lead it would not relinquish and it moved on to its largest advantage of the game when a Brittany Griffin (Suffern, N.Y.) free-throw pushed it in front 47-40 with 6:42 left. The Lady Bears would get their deficit down to two points three times in the final three minutes, but a pair of Griffin free-throws in the last 10 second would give the Dolphins the final 58-53 edge.
Both teams struggled from the field with the Dolphins shooting 24.6-percent for the game and St. Joseph's shooting 24.7-percent. The Last Bears knocked down five triples to two for the Dolphins, but the Dolphins converted 22 free-throws to just 10 for St. Joseph's.
Three players tied for the team lead in scoring for the Dolphins with Kluth, McNish and Kerry O'Connor (Bethpage, N.Y.) netting 12 points each. Kluth nearly missed a triple-double after recording her career-best 16 rebounds and handing out seven assists, she also blocked a shot and swiped a game-high five steals.
McNish scored in double-figures for the third straight game and matched her career-high with 12 points to go along with 10 rebounds. She also swatted three blocks and is now averaging 14 rebounds per game over the last three contests.
O'Connor knocked down both of the Dolphins' three-pointers on the day and also grabbed four rebounds. DeLeon chipped in with eight points to go along with a pair of blocks and nine rebounds.
The win gives Mount Saint Vincent back-to-back victories for the first time this season and moves it to 4-7 overall on the season. The Dolphins will be back in action again on Tuesday when they host league rival Bard. Tip-off with the Raptors is set for 6:00 p.m.