Old Westbury, N.Y. - The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team had its season-high-four game winning streak snapped on Thursday night with a 73-56 road loss at Old Westbury. Senior Kerry O'Connor (Bethpage, N.Y.) led three Mount Saint Vincent players in double-figures with 17 points against the Panthers.
The Dolphins carried a four point lead into halftime on Thursday night after falling behind 10-2 in the first five minutes of the contest. The Dolphins rebounded after a nearly eight minute scoring drought with a 15-2 run capped by an O'Connor three-pointer to take a 17-12 lead with just under five minutes to play before the half.
Mount saint Vincent used another spurt in the final five minutes to open its largest lead of the game following a Desiree Rosa (Dumont, N.J.) triple and Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) free-throw in the final three minutes that pushed the Dolphins in front 23-14. Old Westbury would close the frame on a 7-2 run to cut the Dolphins' lead to 25-21 heading into the break.
Both teams shot under 30-percent from the field in the first half, with the Dolphins posting a 26.5-percent mark in the period. O'Connor led all scorers in the locker room on Thursday with 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting overall.
Coming out of halftime the Mount would maintain its lead until the 11:15 mark of the second half when Kim Weathers converted a layup to push Old Westbury in front for the first time since the 7:23 mark of the first half at 35-34.
From that point the score would be tied three times and the Dolphins would regain a lead as large as four points after a pair of Sarah Kluth (Lynbrook, N.Y.) free-throws with 7:58 left in regulation. Following those free-throws, the Panthers closed the game on a 30-11 run to secure the victory and held the Dolphins to just one field goal.
Overall in the tilt, Mount Saint Vincent shot 28.8-percent from the floor and went 5-for-15 from behind the arc. O'Connor knocked down three of the team's five triples and added five rebounds to her team-high point total. She shot 5-for-11 from the floor overall and went 3-for-7 from distance.
Andree DeLeon (Flushing, N.Y.) matched her career-high with 16 points on the night and secured four boards to go along with a steal and a block. Kluth chipped in with 12 points on the night and added eight rebounds and matched the game-high with four assists.
The Panthers finished the night shooting 37-percent from the field and had three in double-figures led by 29 points from Weathers. She also added six rebounds, four assists and six steals to the winning effort. Ruth Vargas came off the bench for Old Westbury to post a double-double with 14 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 6-8 overall on the season and to 4-6 against Skyline Conference opponents. The Dolphins will be right back at it when they host Mount saint Mary on Friday evening. Tip-off with the Knights at the Peter Jay Sharp Center is slated for 6:00 p.m.