New York, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team dropped its sixth straight game on Monday night after dropping a hard fought 55-53 decision at the City College of New York (CCNY). Junior Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) and sophomore Andree DeLeon (Flushing, N.Y.) led the offensive attack with 12 points each.
After a tightly contest first 20 minutes, the Dolphins and Beavers headed to the locker room tied at 28-28. The first half featured six tied and six lead changes with the largest advantage of the period coming on a McNish lay-in with 12:40 left to give the Dolphins a six point lead.
Mount Saint Vincent quickly jumped out to a four point lead coming out of halftime, before a quick 6-0 run by the Beavers pushed them in front by a pair after a Simone Tharkur bucket with 17:49 left in regulation time.
The second half proved to be as tight as the opening period and it featured three ties and 10 led changes by the two teams. However, the Mount would be able to open some breathing room in the final six minutes when it used a 9-1 run to open a game-high seven point lead with 2:25 left. DeLeon tallied six of the points and a Kerry O'Connor (Bethpage, N.Y.) triple pushed the Dolphins in front 53-46.
The O'Connor trey would prove to be the Dolphins final bucket of the night as they went the final 2:25 without a point. CCNY took advantage and closed the game on a 9-0 run with Donika Rexhepi recording all nine points, including going 5-for-6 from the free-throw line.
Rexhepi finished the contest with 25 of the Beavers' 55 points on 9-for-19 shooting overall. She also added 12 rebounds and swiped four steals for the Beavers. Tharkur chipped in with 10 points and seven boards for CCNY who shot just 33.3-percent for the game.
McNish finished the game shooting 5-for-14 from the floor and added a contest-high 13 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season. She also matched a career-high with four blocked shots for the Dolphins.
DeLeon shot 5-for-10 from the field for Mount Saint Vincent on Monday and also chipped in with seven rebounds, two assists and three steals. O'Connor finished the night with eight points and Andrea Sinaly (Middle Village, N.Y.) added seven.
For the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot just 32.4-percent from the floor and went just 4-for-14 from behind the arc. The Dolphins also struggled from the stripe on Monday, converting just five of their 16 free-throw chances.
The loss sends the Mount to its second six game losing streak of the season and drops it to 6-13 overall. The Dolphins will be back on the floor again on Wednesday when they host league rival Farmingdale St. Tip-off with the Rams is slated for 5:00 p.m.