Riverdale, N.Y. – Led by a team-high 20 points from freshman Brittany Carroll (Staten Island, N.Y.), the College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team moved to 12-1 at home on Saturday afternoon with a wire-to-wire 70-57 league victory over visiting NYU-POLY.
Mount Saint Vincent quickly built a double-figure advantage on Saturday, scoring 15 of the first 19 points of the game. Carroll connected on half of her four three-pointers in the game during the run and Theresa Carey (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) added five points as the Dolphins moved in front 15-4 just over four minutes into the game.
The Dolphins allowed the Jays to get within eight points twice over the next three minutes of action, but an 8-0 stretch taking 5:18 off of the clock gave the Mount it largest lead of the game at 30-11 with 7:18 left before halftime. NYU-POLY went 0-for-7 from the field over the Mount Saint Vincent spurt, while the Dolphins went 4-for-9. Brittany Lee (Newton, N.J.) led the way for the Dolphins with half of the eight points in the run.
NYU-POLY answered with an 8-0 run of its own to get its deficit back down to 11 points after a pair of Sabrina Fletcher free-throws with 5:28 remaining in the half. Mount Saint Vincent would quickly extend its lead back to 16 points on a Carroll triple and a Kelly Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) lay-in with six seconds left in the half sent the Mount to the locker room with a 43-30 advantage.
The Mount shot 41.5-percent in the first half and went 6-for-13 from three-point distance. The Dolphins outscored NYU-POLY 20-8 in the paint in the opening stanza and got 14 points on the strength of 4-for-6 shooting from behind the arc from Carroll.
The Dolphins were never threatened in the second half and kept their advantage in double-figures the entire period. The Jays would cut their disadvantage to 12 points three times in the early stages of the second half, but a 13-6 spurt covering 7:34 saw the Dolphins match its largest lead of the game, at 68-49, on a Gabriella Melgar (Branford, Conn.) jumper with 5:46 left to play.
Mount Saint Vincent would manage just one more field goal in the game, but held NYU-POLY off the board for nearly three minutes before two buckets in the final 1:24. A Rebecca Eaker jumper snapped a 2:54 scoreless drought for the Jays with just under a minute-and-a-half to play.
Mount Saint Vincent shot an even 40-percent from the floor in the game, with Fraser and Carroll combining for 14 of the team's 30 field goals. Carroll finished up 8-for-12 overall and 4-for-7 from three-point range and Fraser went 6-for-18. Carroll added a pair of rebounds and an assist for the Dolphins.
Fraser led all players with 20 boards and added 14 points to the win. The rebound total is one short of her career-high and it marks the 11th straight game she has recorded a double-double.
Freshman guard Christina Barone (Staten Island, N.Y.) handed out a game-high eight assists in the win to go along with six points and seven rebounds. Barone now has 119 helpers on the season and in Friday's NCAA Stat Report ranked 15th nationally in assists per game.
Lee and Carey chipped in with eight and seven points, with Lee hauling in eight rebounds. Tanisha Montague (Brooklyn, N.Y.) added two rebounds and three assists to the victory.
Alyssa D'Apice led all players in the game with 23 points for NYU-POLY and Tabitha Larsen added 13 tallies for the Jays. Fletcher closed out a double-double for the visitors with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Overall in the game, Mount Saint Vincent outrebounded NYU-POLY 59-38, including 20-12 on the offensive glass. The Dolphins posted a 36-16 edge in paint points, a 15-4 advantage in points off of turnovers and an 18-4 advantage in second chance scoring.
Saturday's win pushes Mount Saint Vincent to 15-5 overall on the season and to 7-3 against Skyline opponents. The Dolphins will close out non-conference play on Monday night with a road contest at St. Joseph's-Brooklyn. Tip-off with the Lady Bears is set for 7:30 p.m.