Purchase, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team suffered a tough 66-56 road loss at league foe Purchase on Tuesday night. Junior center
Kelly Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) continued her strong season with a team-high 24 points.
Mount Saint Vincent led only briefly on Tuesday when
Brittany Carroll (Staten Island, N.Y.) canned a three-pointer in the opening minute to move the Mount in front 3-2 in the early going.
The Dolphins' lead would be short lived after Jazmin Garcia nailed a three-pointer just 19 seconds later to move the home standing Panthers in front for good in the game at the 18:46 mark of the half.
Following the Carroll triple, the Dolphins would be held off the scoreboard for three minutes until
Brittany Lee (Newton, N.J.) converted a lay-in with 16:05 left before halftime. Before the Lee bucket, Purchase scored nine points to move in front 11-3.
Garcia would hit another three-point field goal at the 12:44 mark of the half to get the Purchase lead up to double-figures at 17-7. The lead would grow to a half-high 15 points, at 22-7, on a Jess Lindsay conversion with just over 11 minutes left before the break.
The Dolphins would close the first half on Tuesday with nine of the final 13 points over the last 5:42 of the period to get its disadvantage down to 32-25 heading into the intermission. Senior
Desiree Rosa (Dumont, N.Y.) drilled a three-pointer with just over a minute left in the period to get the Mount back to within the seven point deficit at the half.
The Mount finished the first 20 minutes shooting 10-for-27 from the floor and 2-for-8 from three-point range. Fraser led the Dolphins with seven points and nine rebounds. Purchase shot 37-percent in the first half and were led by 16 points from Garcia.
Out of the intermission, Mount Saint Vincent would get to within five points twice in the first 2:09 of the second half.
Christina Barone (Staten Island, N.Y.) hit a jumper at the 19:01 mark to get the Dolphins to within 32-27 and Fraser converted a layup at 17:51 to get the Mount to with 34-29.
The five point deficit would be as close as the Dolphins could get the rest of the game, as Purchase used a 9-0 run to pull in front 43-29 with 14:13 left to play. The Panthers' lead would expand to a game-high 16 points with just under 12 minutes to play when a Garcia bucket pushed the lead to 48-32.
Mount Saint Vincent would string together a 17-8 spurt late in the half to climb back to within 58-52 with three minutes left in regulation. Fraser opened the run with a three-point play and Carroll capped the spurt with a three-point field goal.
Following the Carroll triple, the Dolphins were held to one field goal and Purchase hit six free-throws to earn the final 10 point decision and the season split with the Dolphins.
The Mount finished the game shooting 34.4-percent from the field, but went just 4-for-16 from three-point range. Purchase was held to 37.1-percent shooting, but scored 19 points off of 30 Mount Saint Vincent turnovers.
Fraser closed the game 9-for-22 from the floor and 5-for-6 from the free-throw line as she was the only Dolphins to reach double-figures. She led all players with 14 rebounds on her way to her team-high 13
th double-double of the season. She added three blocks and a steal for the Dolphins.
Barone chipped in with seven points and seven assists for Mount Saint Vincent and
Daniela Arias (Woodside, N.Y.) collected three of the team's nine steals in the game.
Garcia led all players for Purchase with 25 points on 10-for-19 shooting overall to go along with 12 rebounds and a pair of assists. Lineker St. Hilaire added 15 points and four assists and Kristen Viven added three helpers and a game-high four steals.
Tuesday's loss drops Mount Saint Vincent to 13-5 overall and to 6-3 in Skyline Conference play. The Dolphins will look to rebound on Thursday night when they play host to USMMA-Kings Point. Tip-off at the Peter Jay Sharp Center is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
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