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| Jen Mocanu led all scorers with 20 points on Tuesday. |
The game was a back-and-forth affair early on with the Mount scoring the first five points and then St. Joseph’s answering with six straight to take a one point lead on a Trish McMahon jumper. From there the lead would change hands two more times before the Dolphins grabbed the lead for good on an Ashley Ruiz (Carmel, N.Y.) triple with 16:05 left in the first half.
The Golden Eagles would not let the Dolphins get much breathing room for the remainder of the first half. After the Mount opened its largest lead of the half at 32-19, St. Joseph’s strung together an 11-5 spurt over the final 6:04 of the half to close to within six points at 37-31 heading into halftime.
Mocanu led all scorers at the break with 12 points on 6-9 shooting as the Dolphins connected on 43.8-percent (14-32) of their field goal attempts. Courtney Heesemann (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) also had a strong half for the Mount with eight points and six boards and senior Ashley Farrow (Ocean, N.J.) secured her 500th career rebound in the opening half.
Mount Saint Vincent would finally pull away in the second half thanks to an 18-0 run over nearly four and a half minutes to open a 70-41 lead with just under five minutes left to play in the contest. The Golden Eagles would cut the final margin to 17 after scoring 13 of the final 14 points in the contest.
Overall in the game, Mount Saint Vincent shot under 40-percent from the field and under 70-percent from the free-throw line. The Dolphins did play stingy defense as they allowed just 20 field goals and did not allow a three-pointer. They forced 31 turnovers in the tilt and turned those into 28 points.
Ruiz put together another solid outing for the Mount with 17 points, two assists and six steals. Heesemann finished with 13 points and nine boards and Karissa Koerner (Bay Shore, N.Y.) posted 11 points, making three triples along the way.
Mocanu finished the game 8-16 from the floor with a three-pointer to go along with seven rebounds and three assists.
The win sets up a rematch of this season’s regular season finale and last season’s tournament semifinal. Last year the Rams escaped with a tight 60-57 win to move onto the championship game. Last Saturday, Ruiz scored 27 points as the Dolphins held off a late charge from Farmingdale and 50 points from Kimberly Blakney to earn a 102-98 win.
The win moves Mount Saint Vincent to 16-10 overall on the season. Tip-off with the Rams in Farmingdale will be at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday night.
