Farmingdale, N.Y. – Behind a game-high 28 points and the 20th double-double of the season from junior Kelly Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.), the College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team upended Farmingdale State by a score of 76-59 on Thursday night. The Dolphins have advanced to take on Sage on Saturday in their first Skyline Conference Championship game appearance.
Mount Saint Vincent jumped out to a pair of four point leads in the early going on Thursday and did not fall behind the Rams until a Camille Romero three-pointer got Farmingdale State in front by a score of 13-12 with 11:09 left before halftime.
Farmingdale State would not trail again the remainder of the half and went on to grab a lead of as many as five points twice in the final 4:42 of the stanza. Andrea Desvignes gave the Rams a 23-18 lead with two free-throws and Lushanta Savadel gave Farmingdale State a 25-20 lead with a jumper at the 2:55 mark of the period.
Back-to-back jump shots from Fraser in the final two minutes would get Mount Saint Vincent back to within a point, but Romero closed out the scoring in the half and sent the top-seeded Rams to the locker room with a 27-24 lead on a jumper with 19 ticks remaining before the break.
Mount Saint Vincent overcame a 12-4 deficit in scoring off of turnovers by posting a 16-8 edge in paint points in the opening 20 minutes. The Dolphins finished the half shooting just over 41-percent and held the Rams to a 31.4-percent effort. Fraser scored half of the Mount's 24 points before halftime and added seven rebounds.
The Dolphins would take control of the game in the first 9:05 of the second half after outscoring the Rams 16-2. The Rams went 0-for-12 from the floor over that stretch and 2-for-11 from the free-throw line, while the Mount converted five of its 10 field goal attempts and knocked in three triples.
Theresa Carey (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) got the game tied with the Mount's first three-pointer of the game eight seconds into the second half and Fraser gave the Mount the lead for good in the game with a three-pointer with 18:34 to play in regulation. Brittany Lee (Newton, N.J.) pushed the lead to six points with a triple of her own just over four minutes in the period.
Second Team All-Skyline Conference selection Christina Barone (Staten Island, N.Y.) got the Dolphins' lead to 40-29 on a three-point play with 11:14 left to play and the Mount did not allow the Rams any closer than six points the rest of the night.
After the Rams got their deficit down to six points, a Barone jumper got the lead back to 11 points for the Dolphins with 7:32 on the clock before the Mount took a game-high 22 points, at 71-49, on a Fraser free-throw with 1:46 remaining in regulation.
The Dolphins shot a blistering 60-percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game shooting a season-high 51-perent. After going 0-for-8 from three-point range in the first half, the Dolphins connected on five triples after halftime.
Fraser finished the night 12-for-19 from the floor and matched her career-high with 21 rebounds in the game. She added three assists and two blocks in the win for the Dolphins. Barone was the only other player to score in double-figures for the Mount after posting 13 points on the strength of a 7-for-12 effort from the free-throw line. She added a game-high eight assists and grabbed seven rebounds.
Carey chipped in with nine points for Mount Saint Vincent and three assists and Lee contributed eight points after knocking in two triples and going 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. Tanisha Montague (Brooklyn, N.Y.) collected two of the team's five steals.
The Mount Saint Vincent defense held Farmingdale State to 26.1-percent shooting in the game and outscored the Rams in the paint 36-14. Romero led Farmingdale State with 22 points and Savadel hauled in a team-high 12 rebounds.
The win secures Mount Saint Vincent's first ever berth in the Skyline Conference Championship game and moves it to 18-8 overall on the season. The win total is the most since the Mount went 18-10 during the 2009-10 season.
Mount Saint Vincent will travel to Sage on Saturday afternoon with the program's first ever NCAA Tournament berth on the line. Tip-off with the Gators at Kahl Gymnasium in Albany, N.Y. is set for 2:00 p.m.