Purchase, NY – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team earned its third straight victory on Wednesday night with a 72-67 triumph at Purchase. Junior Karissa Koerner (Bay Shore, NY)

Ashley Ruiz finished with a career-high 14 points at Purchase on Wednesday.

led all scorers with 25 points, while freshman Ashley Ruiz (Carmel, NY) finished with a career-high 14 points for the Mount.

The contest was a back-and-forth affair the whole night as it featured five ties and nine lead changes. Purchase jumped out to a quick 6-2 advantage, before the Dolphins took their first lead of the day at 7-6 on a Courtney Heesemann (New Hyde Park, NY) lay-in just under three minutes into the contest.

Purchase would take control of the period late and hold an 11 point lead at 40-29 heading into halftime. The Panthers were led by Jessie Domes' 13 points in the frame, as they shot 52.0-percent (13-25) from the floor in the half. The Purchase defense held the Mount to just 24.3-percent shooting (9-37) from the field as four of the Dolphins' nine field goals came from beyond the arc.

The second half started with a three from Darian Cotto of Purchase to put the home team up by 13 with 19:21 left in regulation. The Mount defense would then settle in and not allow another point to Purchase until a Domes lay-up with 14:03 left. Over that time, Mount Saint Vincent scored nine points to cut its deficit to just six. Jen Mocanu (Middletown, NJ) and Koerner each canned three pointers to fuel the rally.

Koerner would pull the Mount to within two points at 48-46 with just under 12:00 left in regulation, before Ruiz knotted the score at 48-48 on a lay-up with 11:04 left. Ruiz would give the Mount the lead with 9:49 remaining on a triple and the Dolphins would extend their lead to seven points on yet another three from Koerner with 6:25 remaining in regulation time.

Purchase (8-5, 4-3 Skyline) would fight back to tie the score at 62-62 and then would take the lead with 3:19 left on a three-pointer from Jennifer Danio. Following the Danio triple the Mount would close the game on a 10-2 run to earn the victory.

After Purchase pulled ahead by one point with 1:12 left, Ruiz canned a three-pointer to push the Mount back in front by a pair at 69-67.  Heesemann sealed the win for the Mount with a three-point play with 16 seconds left.

Ruiz came off the bench and went 5-8 from the floor overall and 4-7 from long distance. She also pulled down four rebounds in 17 minutes of action. Heesemann finished the night with 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds, with five of those coming on the offensive glass. She also handed out two assists, swiped two steals and recorded a block.

Koerner went 7-18 from the floor overall, 6-14 from three-point range and a perfect 5-5 from the free-throw line on her way to the game-high in scoring. She also grabbed three rebounds and posted three steals.

Overall, the Dolphins finished the night shooting 33.8-percent from the field, but knocked down 86.7-percent (13-15) from the charity stripe. Purchase shot better from the floor, at 40.7-percent, but only converted 65.2-percent (15-23) of its free-throws.

Purchase had four in double-figures on the night, led by 19 from Domes. Liila Mack posted a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Cotto and Danio finished with 17 and 12 points respectively.

The win moves Mount Saint Vincent back to .500 overall at 7-7 and to 6-1 in the Skyline Conference. Up next for the Dolphins is a trip to Farmingdale St. on January 17. Tip-off with the Rams is slated for 3:00 p.m.