Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team was dealt its fourth straight loss on Thursday night with a 66-51 Skyline Conference loss to visiting Sage. The Mount was paced by 13 points from Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) and also received 12 points from Brittany Griffin (Suffern, N.Y.).
After a sluggish start by both teams on Thursday, each traded runs and the lead over the course of the opening 20 minutes. After falling behind 2-0 in the early going, Mount Saint Vincent responded with the next six points before the Gators answered that with a 13-0 run to take a 15-6 lead with 9:28 left before halftime.
After Sage gained that nine point advantage the Dolphins used a 14-4 spurt capped by a McNish lay-in with 2:36 left in the half to pull in front 20-19. Sage would quickly regain the lead on a Carly Vallee jumper, but the Mount closed the half with six of the final eight points to carry a 26-23 lead into the half.
Mount Saint Vincent would come out of the half and gain its largest lead of the night on a Griffin bucket in the opening minutes, but could not stretch its lead passed five points the remainder of the contest.
Trailing by five, Sage again put together a big run, this time a 22-4 spurt over nearly eight minutes to extend its lead to 13 points at the midway point of the period. The Dolphins would be able to get as close as eight points in the ladder stages of the half, but Sage converted five free-throws down the stretch to secure the key league victory.
Both teams struggled from the floor on the night with the Gators converting 38.5-percent of their field goal opportunities and the Dolphins shooting 24.4-percent, their second lowest percentage of the season. Sage knocked down four three-pointers in the game and shot 73.3-percent from the free-throw line.
The Gators were led by a balanced scoring attack which featured four players in double-figures. Sarah Carciobolo led the way with a game-high 18 points on 5-got-7 shooting from the field and 7-for-8 shooting from the free-throw line. Carly Vallee chipped in with 15 points for Sage and Chelsea Martin and Elizabeth Dink scored 12 and 10 respectively.
McNish led the way for Mount Saint Vincent on Thursday and in the process collected her sixth double-double of the season. She finished 5-for-16 from the floor and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. Griffin reached double-figures for the fifth time this season with her 12 points and also added nine rebounds.
Overall in the game, Mount Saint Vincent secured 53 boards to 45 for Sage and held a decisive 31-14 advantage on the offensive glass. The Dolphins could only turn that edge into 19 second chance points on the night.
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 6-11 overall on the season and to 4-8 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will look to get back on track on Saturday afternoon when they host NYU-POLY. Tip-off with the Blue Jays is slated for 1:00 p.m.