Final Statistics

New York, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team was defeated on Friday evening at #19/23 New York University by a score of 59-49 in the first round of the NYU Tip-Off

Ciara Clarke knocked down three of the Mount's five three-pointers in the first half Friday.

Tournament. Seniors Ciara Clarke (Warwick, N.Y.) and Karissa Koerner (Bay Shore, N.Y.) paced the Mount with nine points apiece. 

New York University jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the tilt, as Mount Saint Vincent did not get on the board until the 16:17 mark when Jill Brady (Rockaway Beach, N.Y.) drained a three to cut the deficit in half. The Violets would hold onto the lead until the 8:29 mark when Lauren Percodani (Staten Island, N.Y.) converted a layup to push the Dolphins in front 15-14.

From the point of Percodani's layup the lead changed hands eight times, including a string of seven straight buckets that resulted in lead changes. The Mount's largest deficit in the half was the early six point disadvantage and the biggest lead the Mount enjoyed was a five point bulge on a Clarke triple with 1:27 left before the half. The Violets closed the half on a 5-0 spurt to knot the score at 30-30 heading into the intermission.

After shooting just over 18-percent for the first half in the season opener at Rowan on Thursday night, the Mount shot 34.5-percent from the floor in the first half on Friday, including a 45.5-percent (5-11) clip from three point range. Clarke went 3-3 from distance in the opening twenty minutes and led all scorers at the break with nine points.

The Violets extended their run to 8-0 on a three from Jen Hum-Traverso to give NYU a three point lead early in the second half. The Dolphins would tie the score twice early on in the period but could not regain the lead in the game. A scoring drought of over five minutes in the later stages of the stanza allowed the Violets to push the lead to eight until Brady cut the deficit to 51-47 with 2:31 left.

Mount Saint Vincent would get the Violet lead down to four points on an Andree DeLeon (Flushing, N.Y.) bucket with 1:50 left, but NYU would go on to convert eight straight free-throws in the final 50 seconds to gain the final 59-49 advantage.

The difference in the contest came on the glass and from the free-throw line. The Violets posted a 56-41 edge on the boards, including a 20-14 advantage on the offensive side that led to a 10-6 edge in second chance points. NYU also went 16-22 from the charity stripe in the game and the Dolphins went 1-5 in the second half and 6-14 overall.

Koerner and Clarke led the team with nine points apiece and Courtney Heesemann (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) pulled down 12 rebounds to go along with eight points. Percodani handed out five assists in the game and added eight points on 4-9 shooting.

Overall in the game the Mount went 19-64 from the floor and 5-18 from long distance. NYU shot 19-62 from the floor overall and 5-17 from behind the arc. The Violets were led by Grace Carmen who finished with a double-double, scoring 14 points and grabbing a game-high 18 rebounds. Hum-Traverso netted a game-high 16 points for NYU.

The loss drops the Mount back to .500 in the early going at 1-1. The Dolphins will be back in action on Saturday evening when they tussle with the loser of the Lehman and Purchase contest tipping off at 8:00 p.m. Tip-off for the Dolphins in tomorrow's consolation game of the NYU Tip-Off Tournament is set for 6:00 p.m.

Post Game Notes: Friday's contest was the 13th overall meeting between the two schools with NYU holding a 9-4 series advantage…Friday was the 103rd straight game the Dolphins made a three-point field goal…NYU defeated Mount Saint Vincent 75-56 November 22, 2008…Mount Saint Vincent's last win over NYU was a 50-45 victory during the 1982-83 season.