Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team was defeated for the sixth straight time on Saturday afternoon after suffering a hard fought 61-54 loss to NYU-POLY. Freshman Sarah Kluth (Lynbrook, N.Y.) led two Dolphins in double-figures with 15 points and also collected her second career double-double.
After the Dolphins opened the scoring on a Kluth jumper, the Blue Jays went on a 10-0 run to open an eight point lead nearly seven minutes into the contest. The Dolphins would fall behind by as many as nine points at the midway point of the period, before the two teams went over three minutes without scoring.
Margaux Pickell broke that drought with a pair of free-throws, which opened a spurt that saw the visitors pull in front by their largest lead of the game at 20-7 with five minutes left before the break. The Dolphins would answer and close the half on an 11-2 run to pull within four points at halftime.
Mount Saint Vincent would come out of halftime and get its deficit down to one point with 15:38 left in regulation, but a 12-3 run by NYU-POLY pushed it back in front by 10 with just under 12 minutes left in the contest.
The Dolphins used one more run in the last two and a half minutes to get back to within three points, but the Blue Jays converted four free-throws in the final 20 seconds to secure the key Skyline Conference win.
The Mount Saint Vincent defense did a solid job on Saturday, allowing the Blue Jays to shot just 35.7-percent from the floor and 23.1-percent from behind the arc. Three NYU-POLY players combined for 49 of its 61 points with Kristin Leitheuser leading the way with 19 pints to go along with 12 rebounds.
Pickell added 18 points and 21 boards, with 14 of her game-high rebound total coming before halftime. Tabitha Larsen chipped in with 12 points for the Blue Jays and led all players with a game-high five assists.
Mount Saint Vincent finished the game shooting 24.4-percent from the floor and went just 2-for-12 from behind the arc. Kluth went 6-for-13 in the contest and also pulled down 10 rebounds to go along with a game-high six steals. Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) added 10 points and six boards for the Dolphins.
For the game, NYU-POLY outrebounded Mount Saint Vincent 61-41 and also posted 12 fast break points. The Dolphins did force 32 Blue Jay turnovers and translated those into 29 points.
The loss on Saturday drops Mount Saint Vincent to 6-12 overall on the season and to 4-9 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will be back in action again at home Wednesday, February 2 when they host Farmingdale St. Tip-off with the Rams is set for 5:00 p.m.