NEWBURGH, N.Y. – In their final game of the first semester, the Mount Saint Mary College women’s basketball team dropped a non-conference game to William Paterson University, 49-43, in the Kaplan Center. The 15th ranked Pioneers remained unbeaten on the year at 11-0 while the Blue Knights fell to 8-3, snapping a six-game winning streak.
A tight game throughout, William Paterson took the lead for good at the 10:02 mark of the second half as freshman Lindsey Callander (Branchburg, N.J.) knocked down a three-pointer to give the Pioneers a 38-36 lead. After a scoreless drought of nearly two and a half minutes, freshman Cori Santana (Lodi, N.J.) hit a jumper to extend the lead to four.
Mount Saint Mary would close to within one on two occasions, as three-pointers from sophomore
Amanda Horvers (Kingston, N.Y.) and junior
Jess Tice (Altamont, N.Y.) kept the Blue Knights within range. Tice’s triple at 4:48 made the score 43-42 in favor of the Pioneers.
With 4:02 remaining, William Paterson sophomore BriAnna Lucas (Hamilton, N.J.) made a nice move to the hoop and rolled in a tough layup to make it 45-42. Neither team would score again until a Tice free throw made it a two-point contest with 1:49 to play. Then, as the clock dipped under a minute to play, Callander beat several defenders on her way to the bucket for a layup. Lucas swished a pair of free throws with 12 seconds to play, making the final score, 49-43.
The Blue Knights came out of the gates well and led for most of the first half. A layup by sophomore
Sarah Joseph (East Hampton, Conn.) at the 6:32 mark gave the Mount their biggest lead of the night at seven points (21-14). William Paterson closed the half on an 8-0 run, however, and back-to-back layups by senior Julie Haledjian (Montvale, N.J.) sent the Pioneers to the locker room with a 28-26 advantage.
Poor shooting by both teams was the story of the night. Mount Saint Mary shot 32.6% for the night and only 26.1% in the second half. William Paterson wasn’t any better, connecting at just 27.9% for the evening. The Blue Knights did turn the ball over 21 times as compared to just 11 by the Pioneers.
For the Mount, Horvers finished with a team-high 12 points. Tice completed a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but struggled from the floor, shooting just 3-of-10. Despite finishing with 12 rebounds, senior
Shannon Sangster (Syracuse, N.Y.) never really got it going at the offensive end of the floor. She shot 2-of-10 and finished with just 6 points.
Lucas finished with a game-high 15 points, but needed 16 attempts to make just 4 field goals. Haledjian also shot 4-of-16 from the field and finished with 9 points. Callander made a nice contribution off the bench, netting 9 points.
The Blue Knights return to action on January 5, when they’ll travel to Bard College. The Skyline Conference game with the Raptors is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.