Westminster, Md. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team opened the 2014-15 season on Saturday evening with a hard fought 56-55 win against Alvernia in the first round of the McDaniel Tip-Off Tournament. Senior Kelly Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) led the Dolphins with 22 points in the win.
 
The Dolphins opened a six point lead in the early going on Saturday when Brittany Carroll (Staten Island, N.Y.) converted a layup to push the Mount in front 11-5 at the 15:45 mark of the first half. The Dolphins would spread the lead to seven points on a Christina Barone (Staten Island, N.Y.) conversion at the 13:45 mark of the opening stanza.
 
Kaitlyn Yoh would slice the Mount Saint Vincent lead to just two points with 12:22 in the first half before the team teams went scoreless for the next nearly two minutes of game action. A pair of Barone free-throws with 10:41 left in the half snapped the drought to move the Dolphins' lead back to four points at 19-15.
 
Mount Saint Vincent would maintain the advantage in the half until the 8:01 mark of the first half when Mya Lobb pushed the Crusaders in front 20-19. Barone gave the Mount the lead back with a free-throw with 4:47 left before halftime to start an 11-3 run to close the period. Kelly Nola (Staten Island, N.Y.) closed out the run in the final half minute to give Mount Saint Vincent a 31-23 lead heading into the intermission.
 
The Dolphins shot 28.9-percent from the floor in the first half, but outscored Alvernia 22-12 in the paint to build the eight point halftime lead. Barone led the Mount at the half with 10 points with Nicole Oliver (Carmel, N.Y.) and Theresa Carey (Hampton Bays, N.Y.) leading the way with eight rebounds apiece.
 
The Dolphins would maintain the lead in the game coming out of halftime until Yoh canned a pair of free-throws for Alvernia to push the Crusaders in front 38-37 with 12:48 to play in regulation time. Fraser would give the Mount the lead back with a lay-in at the 11:11 mark to stop a four minute scoring drought for the Dolphins.
 
Mount Saint Vincent would not trail again in the game and spread its advantage to eight points twice in the final five minutes of regulation time. Barone converted a lay-up with 2:38 left to play to give the Dolphins a 54-46 lead before Alvernia closed the game on a 9-2 run.
 
Barone converted two free-throws with nine seconds left to give the Mount a 56-54 lead and saw Tyra Roberts split two free-throws with one second left to hold on for their first win of the season.
 
After shooting just under 23-percent in the first half, Alvernia rebounded to shoot better than 42-percent in the second period. The Crusaders held the Mount to 34.5-percent shooting after halftime, but misfired on eight free-throws in coming up short.
 
Fraser finished the game 9-for-21 from the floor in the game on her way to a game-high 22 points. She grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and added four blocked shots. Barone closed the night 4-for-17 from the floor but 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, finishing with 14 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists and three steals.
 
Carroll closed the night with seven points for Mount Saint Vincent, while Carey hauled in nine rebounds and added five points and a team-high four assists.
 
Mount Saint Vincent finished the game shooting 31.3-percent from the floor and went 0-for-13 from behind the arc. The Dolphins rounded out the game with a 36-24 advantage in paint points.
 
At 1-0 overall on the season, Mount Saint Vincent will take on the host Green Terror in the championship round of the McDaniel Tip-Off Tournament on Sunday. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. in Westminster, Md.

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