(Purchase, NY) - For Head Coach Ed Ryder and the Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team, Wednesday night was two hours worth of deja vus when they travelled to Manhattanville College for their second meeting of the season. Much like their first meeting, a Dec. 2 69-61 Mount Saint Vincent win, the Dolphins overcame a pesky Manhattanville squad and built a seemingly insurmountable double-digit second half lead. And like the last meeting, Manhattanville came storming back to make a game. Fortunately for the Dolphins, lightning did strike twice, the Mount rallied late to sweep the 2006-07 season series with Manhattanville, 71-62. With the win, the Mount has now eclipsed last-season's win total as they are now 9-6 overall and 5-4 in Skyline Conference play. More importantly, they are tied for fourth place in the conference with Centenary and have all but assured themselves a Skyline Conference playoff berth for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
Manhattanville (5-14, 3-7 Skyline Conference), who has already scored a win over Skyline Conference powerhouse Mount Saint Mary this season, made sure a Dolphin sweep would not be an easy task on Wednesday night as the two teams engaged in an all-out slugfest during the first half that saw neither team lead by more than five points, and six different ties. The Mount actually trailed 31-28 with less than a minute remaining in the first half, but a Lauren Percodani (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea) three-pointer with 37 seconds remaining tied the score and it remained that way during the break as both teams were nearly statistically even in every way during the opening 20 minutes.
The second half proved to be a different story as Mount Saint Vincent picked up their shooting and their defense also tightened up, forcing eight Valiant turnovers during the second half while the Dolphins committed only four. Manhattanville tied the score at 37 with 15:43 remaining in the game, but from there, the Mount rallied and seemed to blow the game open with a 12-2 run that gave the Dolphins a 49-39 lead with 12:22 remaining. But the game was far from over, as Manhattanville rallied to make it as close as 51-48 with 8:23 remaining, but Mount Saint Vincent held on, thanks to a tremendous effort by freshman Courtney Heesemann (New Hyde Park, NY/New Hyde Park HS) down the stretch. Heesemann, who scored 10 points during the first half, was quiet during the second half until the final eight minutes of play, when she erupted for 12 of the Mount's final 20 points to help lead the Dolphins to the win. Heesemann finished with team highs in both points (20) and rebounds (9), and also converted eight of her 14 field goal attempts.
Also having a big game for the Dolphins was freshman Karissa Koerner (Bay Shore, NY/Brentwood HS) who had 16 points, and Percodani added 14 points and a team-high six assists.
Mount Saint Vincent also received a spark in the form of freshman Ciara Clarke (Warwick, NY/Warwick HS). Battling nagging knee and shoulder injuries throughout the season, Clarke scored only five points on Wednesday night, but all five came after Manhattanville's rally to make it a 51-48 game. Her shooting touch proved to be a major factor in the Mount's late rally to gain the win.
Overall, the Dolphins scored the win despite being outrebounded 46-38 and shooting 38% compared to Manhattanville's 40%. The Dolphin defense forced 20 Manhattanville turnovers as Clarke led the Dolphins with three steals.
Mount Saint Vincent has little time to rest as the Dolphins return to action for two crucial Skyline Conference home games during a three-day span that could seal the Mount's playoff fate. On Saturday, Mount Saint Vincent hosts Old Westbury at 1:00 p.m. Three nights later, the Dolphins host seven-time defending Skyline Conference champion Mount Saint Mary at 7:00 p.m.
