(Riverdale, NY) - To illustrate how far the Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team has come in an incredibly short period of time, entering Thursday night's home contest with Centenary College, a Skyline Conference playoff berth was not in question as the Mount clinched a trip to the post-season several days ago. Yet somehow, just qualifying for the post-season was not good enough despite the fact that the Dolphins' only route to the Skyline Conference playoffs during the last two seasons was a play-in game that no longer exists. A win on Thursday night, and Mount Saint Vincent would open up a two-game lead on fourth place in the upcoming playoffs, and virtually assure themselves of a post-season home game. Indeed, there was a lot at stake as Centenary came to town for the second time this season on Thursday, as the Cyclones (5-6 Skyline Conference) had an opportunity to draw even with the Mount (6-5 Skyline Conference) in the standings, and make the final two weeks of conference play a sprint to the finish. But the sense of urgency belonged to the Mount for nearly the entire 40 minutes of play as the Dolphins opened up a 10-point halftime lead and never looked back en route to a 76-61 win over Centenary.
With the win, Mount Saint Vincent improves to 11-7 overall, 7-5 in Skyline Conference play, and not only is a home playoff game very much in the cards, but the Dolphins may be able to finish higher than the fourth seed. At 7-5, Mount Saint Vincent is one game behind Farmingdale State, and two games behind Stevens. The Dolphins travel to Stevens (who lost 58-55 to Centenary only a week ago) on Monday night for a game that could turn the top half of the Skyline Conference post-season bracket upside down with a Mount Saint Vincent win.
On Thursday night, the Dolphins left little doubt that they would sweep the season series with a Centenary team that has been playing its finest basketball of the season lately. Mount Saint Vincent raced out to a 19-4 lead during the first 5:47 and never led by fewer than eight points as the Dolphins spent most of the game ahead by a double-digit total despite Centenary's constant full-court pressure and physical play. The Mount led 34-24 at halftime and extended the lead to as many as 22 points, 73-51 with 2:22 remaining. Centenary (11-7, 5-7 Skyline Conference) went on a 10-3 run to finish the game, but by then the contest was way out of reach.
The story of the game was the continued impressive play of Mount Saint Vincent freshmen Courtney Heesemann (New Hyde Park, NY/New Hyde Park HS), Lauren Percodani (Staten Island, NY/St. Joseph by the Sea), and Karissa Koerner (Bay Shore, NY/Brentwood HS), who once again were phenomenal. Heesemann scored a career-high 22 points (on 8 for 13 shooting) and grabbed six rebounds, while Percodani scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and added eight assists and four steals. Koerner, who scored a caeer-high 21 points against Centenary during a win on Dec. 6, scored 19 points, including a 7 for 7 effort from the free throw line. In total, Mount Saint Vincent freshmen scored 64 of the Mount's 76 points.
But the freshmen were certainly not the only ones contributing as junior Kaitlin Burud (Red Hook, NY/Red Hook HS) scored nine points and added four rebounds, three assists, and four steals, while sophomore Ashley Farrow (Ocean, NJ/Ocean Township HS) grabbed eight rebounds.
Overall, Mount Saint Vincent shot 40% compared to Centenary's 27% and forced 29 Cyclone turnovers.
Mount Saint Vincent has little time to rest as the Dolphins travel to the Stevens Institute of Technology on Monday. Feb. 5 for a 7:00 p.m. tilt. A Dolphin win could put the Mount in a tie for third place in the Skyline Conference.
