Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team dropped a non-league tilt to its cross-town rival Lehman on Tuesday by a score of 81-58. Three Dolphins scored in double-figures on the night, with senior Ashley Ruiz (Carmel, N.Y.) leading the way with 13 points.
The Dolphins and Lightning played a tightly contested first 20 minutes, with the largest lead getting to only seven points. Lehman held that advantage twice, once after a Leslie Mencia bucket with 11:39 to play in the period and again after an Amanda De La Cruz jumper with 8:39 left.
Following the De La Cruz bucket, Mount Saint Vincent used a 13-5 spurt capped by a pair of Ruiz free-throws to take a 29-28 lead in the final 1:05 of the half. From there the two teams went bucket-for-bucket, with De La Cruz scoring twice in the final 54 seconds to give the visitors a 32-31 advantage at the break.
Both teams shot below 40-percent in the first half, with the Dolphins staying close by converting six of their eight free-throws. The two teams turned the ball over a combined 25 times in the opening 20 minutes, with the Lightning taking advantage of 14 Dolphins miscues and turning them into 12 points.
Lehman came out in the second half and quickly used a 10-2 run over the first three and a half minutes to open a 42-33 lead. Sage Owens (Narrowsburg, N.Y.) would get the Mount to within six after a three-point play with 15:31 left in regulation and a Ruiz triple with 9:26 remaining brought the Mount to within four, but that would be as close as the Dolphins would get the remainder of the night.
After the Ruiz three-pointer, Lehman went on a 24-4 run to open a game-high 24 point lead after a Mencia triple with 2:28 left in the contest. After cutting the lead to four points, the Mount would score just nine points over the last 9:26 of regulation time.
Lehman shot just over 61-percent from the field in the second half on its way to converting 47.4-percent of its field goal chances for the game. The Lightning assisted on 27 of their 37 conversions, with De La Cruz leading the way with 15 helpers to go along with 17 points.
Jaleesa Gordon led all players for Lehman with 20 points on 10-for-14 shooting, while Mencia and Paula Robinson posted 18 and 14 points respectively. Gordon also finished the night with six of the team's 10 blocked shots.
Ruiz finished the night with a season-high point total after going 3-for-9 from three-point range and 4-for-6 from the free-throw line. She also secured a pair of rebounds for the Dolphins on Tuesday.
Brittany Griffin (Suffern, N.Y.) finished in double-figures for the third straight game with 12 points to go along with six boards and a blocked shot. Andree DeLeon (Flushing, N.Y.) also netted double-figures for the Mount with 10 points.
Senior Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) posted a game-high 14 rebounds on the night, while sophomore Andrea Sinaly (Middle Village, N.Y.) led the team in assists with three and steals with four.
For the night, Mount Saint Vincent shot just 27.3-percent from the floor and was outscored in the paint 42-18. The Lightning also held the edge in fast break tallies 18-8 and points off of turnovers 22-19.
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 2-4 heading into the semester break. The Dolphins will be back in action after the holidays when they travel to Hunter on December 29. Tip-off with the Hawks is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.