Riverdale, N.Y. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women's Basketball team opens play in the Skyline Conference Tournament on Thursday night when it welcomes Sage to the Peter Jay Sharp Center. The Dolphins and Gators, who met in last season's championship game, are scheduled to tip-off at 7:00 p.m. Live Stats will be available for those who cannot attend tonight's contest.
 
History
Mount Saint Vincent will make its second straight appearance in the Skyline Conference Tournament in three seasons under head coach Kevin Clifford. The Dolphins advanced to their first ever championship game last year, upsetting top seed Farmingdale State on the road by a score of 76-59 in the semifinal round.
 
Since the start of the 2007-08 season, Mount Saint Vincent has appeared in the league tournament four times and have won four of the eight games contested.
 
A Look At The Dolphins
Mount Saint Vincent enters play tonight at 20-5 overall and has the most wins in a season since posting 21 triumphs during the 2007-08 campaign. In his third season at the helm of the Women's Basketball program, Kevin Clifford has guided the Dolphins to a 45-33 record and a 19-21 mark against Skyline Conference opponents in the regular season.
 
2015 Skyline Conference Defensive Player of the Year and First Team All-League selection Kelly Fraser (Staten Island, N.Y.) leads the Dolphins in scoring coming into tonight's action, averaging 17.3 points per game and a team-high 11.9 rebounds per outing. Fraser is a 50.7-percent shooter from the floor heading into Thursday's tilt and has blocked a team-high 48 shots. Fraser is currently second in the conference in scoring and is the league leader in rebounding and field-goal percentage.
 
Sophomore Christina Barone (Staten Island, N.Y.) was named First Team All-Skyline Conference on Wednesday and is good for 12.9 points per game and 7.5 assists per game. Barone trails only Fraser's 16 double-doubles with seven, including a triple-double with 21 points and career-highs in assists (18) and steals (13) against Yeshiva in the regular season finale. Barone leads the conference in assists and assist-to-turnover ratio through play in the regular season.
 
Brittany Carroll (Staten Island, N.Y.) was made a Second Team All-League pick on Wednesday and enters tonight's contest third on the team in scoring at 12.2 points per game. She has knocked down a team-high 61 three-point field-goals and is shooting just over 37-percent from bonus distance. Carroll is third on the team in assists with 50. Coming into tonight's semifinal, Carroll leads the conference in three-point field goal percentage.
 
Mount Saint Vincent is shooting 41.3-percent as a team and is outscoring opponents this far by 20.4 points per game. The Dolphins are plus 3.7 on the glass through the regular season and plus 5.1 in turnover margin.
 
Scouting Sage
Sage finished off the regular season at 18-6 overall and closed the regular season with 12 wins in its final 13 outings, with the lone loss coming at Farmingdale State in the regular season finale by a score of 72-63.
 
The Gators are led by 14.0 points and 5.5 assists per game from Megan Bowan. She is the only Gator to average double-figures coming into Thursday's contest. The First Team All-Skyline Conference selection is a 38.5-percent shooter overall and a 30.5-percent shooter from behind the arc.
 
Freshman Genevieve Schoff, A Second Team All-Skyline Conference pick, is good for 8.4 points per game and is securing just shy of six rebounds per game. Amie Jefferson was also named Second Team All-League on Wednesday and leads the team in rebounding (9.1) and blocked shots (35).
 
As a team, Sage is shooting 37.8-percent from the floor and 27.4-percent from three-point range. The Gators are outscoring their opponents by 9.1 points per game and are outrebounding opponents by 7.8 per contest.
 
The Series
Since the start of the 2007-08 season, the programs have met 17 times with the Mount holding a 9-8 record. The Dolphins won the first six games over the stretch before the Gators collected the next five wins of the series. Over the last six matchups, each team has won three times with each program winning on its home floor this season. In the only meeting in the conference tournament, the Gators earned a 61-55 home win in last season's championships game.
 
What's Next
Tonight's winner will take on the winner of tonight's the Mount Saint Mary and Farmingdale State game that tips-off at 7:00 p.m. on the Rams' home floor.  The highest remaining seed will host Saturday's championship tilt. For updated scored and statistics you can check in to the Skyline Conference's Championship Central page.