Purchase, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team held off a late charge by Purchase in the second half to secure a hard fought 68-67 win over the Panthers on Thursday night. Four Dolphins scored in double-figures led by freshman Sarah Kluth's (Lynbrook, N.Y.) 19 points and Kara McNish notched her second straight double-double and collected a career-high 22 rebounds.
Mount Saint Vincent trailed only once on the night and that came in the opening minute when Jess Lindsay gave the Panthers an early 2-0 lead. After a pair of tie scores, the Dolphins would take the lead for good at the 16:44 mark when Kluth drained one of her three treys in the game to push the Mount in front 7-4.
Purchase would be able to slice its deficit to one point twice in the opening stanza, including at the 2:29 mark of the period when Jessica Perrone hit a jumper to bring the Panthers to within 30-29. The Dolphins would respond with a 7-0 run to close the half, keyed by another Kluth triple as the Mount headed into the break with a 37-29 advantage.
Although the Mount shot just 36.4-percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, they held a commanding 14-4 edge on the offensive glass which led to a 12-2 advantage in second chance points. Kluth scored 10 of her 19 in the first half and McNish grabbed 14 boards, including nine on the offensive end.
Kluth came out of the locker room in the second half to drain her third triple of the game and give the Dolphins an 11 point advantage. Mount Saint Vincent would gain its largest lead of the night at the 11:03 mark when Kluth nailed a jumper to give it a 51-39 edge.
After Purchase used a 7-0 run over their own in the middle stages of the second half, the Dolphins saw their lead slip to just four points with 5:47 left in the contest. Mount Saint Vincent quickly responded with a seven point spurt of its own to regain an 11 point edge after Andree DeLeon (Flushing, N.Y.) converted a lay-up with 4:27 left to play.
Purchase would have one last charge left as it went on to use a 15-5 run to close the game keyed by two triples and seven points total from Alyssa Guido. The Dolphins converted just two field goals in the final four minutes of play, with Kerry O'Connor (Bethpage, N.Y.) hitting both buckets, including a key three pointer.
Overall in the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot 37.7-percent from the floor, but nailed eight three pointers and shot an even 40-percent from behind the arc. O'Connor knocked down four threes and combined with Kluth totaled seven of the eight makes.
Kuth finished the night 7-for-12 from the floor and a perfect 3-for-3 from long distance. She also chipped in three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. O'Connor finished the night with 16 points and Brittany Griffin (Suffern, N.Y.) added 10 points and six rebounds to the winning effort.
McNish scored in double-figures for the second straight game and matched her career-high with 12 points after going 6-for-10 from the floor. She also led the Dolphins to a commanding 52-38 advantage on the boards with her 22 rebounds, which included 11 on the offensive glass. The double-double is her third of the season and she also blocked a pair of shots for the Dolphins.
The win gives Mount Saint Vincent two in their last three games and improves it to 3-7 overall on the season and to 2-5 in league play. The Dolphins will return to action and play their first home game since December 2 when they host non-conference foe St. Joseph's-Brooklyn on Saturday. Tip-off with the Lady Bears is slated for 3:00 p.m.