Newburgh, N.Y. – Behind a career-high 20 points from Erin Smith (Goshen, N.Y.), the Mount Saint Mary College Women's Basketball team held off a late rally to score a 65-57 victory over the College of Mount Saint Vincent in the First Round of the 2023 Skyline Conference Championship on Tuesday night. With the victory, the Knights move through to take on Manhattanville in the Semifinal Round on Thursday.

Tuesday's victory, the Mount's fourth straight, improves it to 19-5 overall on the season and to within a single victory of its fifth straight 20-win campaign. Mount Saint Vincent sees its season come to a close at 11-13 overall.

First Half

• The sixth seeded Dolphins got off to a good start, grabbing a pair of four-point leads in the opening 6:09 of the contest.
• Mount Saint Vincent would hold onto the lead until the 1:22 mark of the first quarter when a Lauren Desrats (Warwick, N.Y.) three-pointer pushed the Knights in front for good in the game at 17-15.
• Mount Saint Vincent pulled to within 17-16, but four straight points from Ciarra Quinn (Bayside, N.Y.) to close the quarter gave the Knights a 21-16 lead after 10 minutes of play.
• After battling to gain the lead over the course of the first quarter, the Knights broke the game open in the second frame, outscoring the Dolphins 14-3.
• The Knights did not allow a field goal in the second stanza until an Amber Been conversion with 3:09 left before halftime, the Dolphins' first bucket since the 2:41 mark of the opening stanza.
• Mount Saint Mary pushed its lead to double-figures for the first time when Kate Hughes (Belle Harbor, N.Y.) converted a layup to push the Knights in front 27-17 with 4:20 left in the second quarter.
• The lead grew to 33-19 on a Cailean Nolan (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) triple with 1:15 left before the break.
• Mount Saint Mary grabbed a half-high 16 point lead when Hughes hit a jumper with 38 seconds left in the half to send the Knights into the break with a 35-19 lead.
• Mount Saint Mary shot 40.6-percent over the opening 20 minutes and knocked down four three-pointers.
• Mount Saint Vincent was held to 34.8-percent shooting before halftime and went 1-for-7 from three-point range.
• E. Smith led all scorers at the break with 12 points, going 5-for-11 from the floor with a pair of triples.
• Kira Villegas led the Dolphins with nine points.

Second Half

• Mount Saint Mary maintained a double-figure lead throughout the third quarter, building a 40-23 lead on an E. Smith triple at the 7:27 mark of the period.
• The advantage grew to 46-28 on a Desrats jumper with 4:03 left in the quarter and reached 20 points, at 48-28, on another E. Smith jumper with 3:31 left.
• Mount Saint Mary pushed its advantage to 53-32 on a pair of E. Smith free-throws late in the quarter, before a three-point play from Been cut the Knights' advantage to 53-35 heading into the final 10 minutes.
• Mount Saint Mary held a lead as large as 24 points twice in the final stanza, pulling in front 63-39 on an Asia Rivera (Saddle Brook, N.J.) bucket at the 6:39 mark and 65-41 on a Hughes bucket with 6:02 left to play.
• Following the Hughes bucket, the Knights were held off the board and the Dolphins scored the final 16 points of the game.
• A Been jumper with 62 seconds left sliced the deficit to 65-55 and a pair of Julia Angeles free-throws brought the Dolphins to within the final eight-point decision before running out of time.
• Mount Saint Mary slipped to 34.5-percent shooting after halftime, including 2-for-11 from three-point range.
• Mount Saint Vincent improved to an even 40.0-percent shooting in the second half and went a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line.
• E. Smith scored eight points after the break to lead the Knights.
• Villegas scored 14 second half points on the strength of 5-for-10 shooting from the floor for the Dolphins.

For The Knights

• E. Smith reached her career-high point total on 7-for-16 shooting, knocking down a trio of three-pointers. Smith added two rebounds and a steal to the winning effort.
• Desrats finished 5-for-12 from the floor on her way to 12 points to go along with team-highs in rebounds with seven and steals with two.
• Hughes rounded out a trio of Knights in double-figures with 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting. She finished the night with five rebounds and a pair of assists.
• Rivera closed the victory with six points, six rebounds and three assists.
• Quinn totaled six points and a pair of blocked shots.
• Nolan scored eight points, connecting on a pair of three-pointers.
• Katie Smith (Goshen, N.Y.) led all players with six assists on the night.

For The Dolphins

• Villegas led all scorers in the game with 23 points, going 9-for-19 from the floor while adding seven rebounds.
• Been scored 17 points and led the team with eight rebounds to go along with four assists.
• Broderick totaled 10 points and collected seven boards.
• Kayla Hanley led the team with five assists and two steals.

Game Statistics

• Mount Saint Mary finished the night shooting 37.7-percent overall and went 6-for-24 from three-point range.
• Mount Saint Vincent shot 37.9-percent, including a 2-for-16 effort from three-point range.
• Mount Saint Mary finished with a slim 12-9 advantage in points off of turnovers.
• The Knights' bench outscored Mount Saint Vincent's 15-0.
• The Dolphins closed the night with a 7-5 edge in second chance points and a 26-20 advantage in points in the paint.

What's Next

• Mount Saint Mary travels to Manhattanville on Thursday to take on the Valiants for the second straight season in the Skyline Conference Championship Semifinal.