Troy, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team dropped its second straight contest on Thursday night after falling on the road at Sage by a score of 65-61. Desiree Rosa (Dumont, N.J.) led the team with 11 points, while Sarah Kluth (Lynbrook, N.Y.) and Kara McNish (Hawthorne, N.J.) each netted 10 points.
The Dolphins did not lead in the game, but rebounded to trail by just eight at the half after the Gators opened the game on an 11-0 run. Sage knocked in two of its 10 three-pointers on the night in the opening four minutes to spark the run.
After Kluth got the Mount on the board with a pair of free-throws, the Gators used another run, this time an 11-5 spurt, to open a 22-7 advantage with 10:14 left before the intermission. The Gators again used the three-pointer to open the 15 point advantage, draining three more over the run.
The 15 point deficit would be the largest of the night for the Dolphins, and following a Carly Valle triple that sent them to the 22-7 disadvantage, the Mount put together a 14-2 run over nearly eight minutes to slash the Gator lead to just four with 1:56 left before the half. A pair of triples from Rosa and a trey from Tanisha Montague (Brooklyn, N.Y.) led the Mount charge.
Sage would rally over the final two minutes and score the final four points of the half to close the period shooting 60-percent from three-point range on its way to a 29-21 lead. Vallee led all scorers in the half with 16 points on 6-for-6 shooting overall and 4-for-4 shooting from behind the arc.
Mount Saint Vincent would come out of the break and get six of the first eight points score to again cut the disadvantage to just four points after two more Kluth free-throws. The Gator lead would stay under double-figures until a Nicole Lantri lay-in with 13:24 to go and would expand to a half-high 13 after a triple from Laurel Jicha with 12:20 to play.
The Dolphins would string together two more runs in the second half, but would not be able to get over the hump. After the Jicha triple, the Mount used an 11-3 stretch to get to within five points after a pair of Shannon Koch (Kings Park, N.Y.) free-throws just past the midway point of the period.
Sage would answer with a Chelsea Martin three-pointer and spread its lead back to double-figures after another Lanteri bucket with just under seven minutes remaining.
The Mount's final run came over the last 4:23 when they sliced the deficit to just two points in the last 35 seconds. An 8-1 run capped by a McNish layup got the Dolphins as close as they had been since the opening seconds of the game, but two free-throws down the stretch gave the Gators just enough breathing room to hold off the Mount.
The Gators shot a solid 43.6-percent from the floor overall in the game, but went 10-for-19 from behind the arc to secure the victory. Vallee finished with a game-high 19 points and knocked in half of the team's three-pointers and went 5-for-9 from distance on the night.
Martin totaled 13 points, while Lanteri finished with 12 tallies. Sarah Carciobolo closed out the night as the fourth Gator in double-figures and notched the 1,000th point of her career in the contest.
Rosa continued her strong recent play and scored in double-figures for the third straight tilt. She also finished the game with six rebounds and a pair of steals.
Kluth posted a strong all-around game for the Mount and nearly posted a triple-double for the Dolphins. She totaled 10 points, secured six rebounds, led all players in the game with six assists and just missed her career-high with a game-high eight steals.
McNish hauled in a game-high 17 caroms for Mount Saint Vincent and finished off her third straight double-double with 10 tallies. Montague rounded out the contest with eight points for the Mount.
For the game, the Dolphins held a 56-35 advantage on the backboards and totaled 29 offensive boards on their way to a 22-3 edge in second chance points. The Mount defense also forced 22 Sage turnovers and translated those into 18 points.
The loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 4-10 overall on the season and to 1-6 in league contests. The Dolphins will try to get back on track in a non-conference game on Monday evening when they play host to Rowan. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.