Worcester, Mass. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team saw its four game winning streak come to an end on Saturday evening with a 76-66 road loss at Worcester State. Sophomore Christina Barone (Staten Island, N.Y.) led the scoring attack with a career-high 29 points.
Mount Saint Vincent pulled out to its largest lead of the game on Saturday with 14:48 left in the first half when a Brittany Carroll (Staten Island, N.Y.) layup pushed the Dolphins in front 12-8.
The Mount would not fall behind the in the half until the 11:51 mark when Worcester State moved in front 17-16 on a Kelli McPherson three-point field goal. The Dolphins would pull even at 19-19 on a Carroll triple midway through the first half, but Worcester State would close the first half on an 18-4 run to carry a 37-23 lead into halftime.
Mount Saint Vincent was held to 24.2-percent shooting in the first half, converting on just eight of its 33 attempts. Worcester State shot just over 48-percent in the opening 20 minutes, outscoring the Mount 28-10 in the paint. Shannen El-Qasem led the Lancers with 11 points, while Barone poured in 14 points before halftime to lead all scorers.
Worcester State quickly spread its lead to 22 points coming out of halftime with a quick 8-0 run to start the second stanza. The lead would extend to a game-high 24 points on a Julie Franklin three-pointer with 14:10 left to play.
The Dolphins would not be able to get their disadvantage under double-figures until an Alexandra Gundermann (Tuxedo, N.Y.) conversion with 1:05 left to play and could not get the deficit to fewer than seven points the rest of the contest. The Mount outscored Worcester State 43-39 after halftime, but went just 1-for-12 from behind the arc in the second half and were outscored 22-12 at the free-throw line.
Mount Saint Vincent was held to just 32.9-percent shooting in the game and went 4-for-21 from three-point distance. Worcester State converted at a 43.6-percent clip in the game and knocked down five three-point field goals.
Barone rounded out the game 9-for-18 from the floor, setting career marks in field goals made and attempts. Barone matched her career –high with nine made free-throws, adding six rebounds and seven assists for the Dolphins.
Senior Kelly Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting, leading the team with nine rebounds and four steals. Carroll closed out the game with nine points with Theresa Carey (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) and Nicole Oliver (Carmel, N.Y.) each hauling in five rebounds.
Worcester State was led by 23 points each from Franklin and El-Qasem. The duo combined for half of the team's 24 made field goals with each player also recording a pair of steals. Bianca Langford led all players with 15 rebounds, closing a double-double effort with 12 points.
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 5-2 overall on the season. The Dolphins will be off until December 15 when they return home to play host to Albertus Magnus. Tip-off with the Falcons is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.