Madison, N.J. – The College of Mount Saint Vincent Women’s Basketball team’s season ended on Wednesday night with a hard fought 56-53 loss at Drew in the ECAC Metro Division Tournament.
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Karissa Koerner led all |
Senior Ciara Clarke (Warwick, N.Y.) gave the Dolphins their first lead of the night after being fouled on a three point attempt 45 seconds into the contest. She converted all three free-throws to push the Mount in front 3-2. After Victoria Ault converted a put back on the next possession the Rangers held the lead until a Courtney Heesemann (New Hyde Park, N.Y.) layup pushed the Dolphins in front 19-17 with 10:14 left before halftime.
The two teams would go on to exchange the lead over the final half of the period until a Dana Coronato three pointer pushed Drew in front by five points at 35-30 with 2:03 left in the frame. The Dolphins would close the half with a Koerner three pointer to head into the locker room trailing by just a two point margin.
Both teams struggled shooting in the opening 20 minutes, with the Mount converting 36.7-percent of its field goal chances and Drew posting a 36.6 field goal percentage. Drew did hold a 30-16 edge on the glass in the period, including a 12-2 advantage on the offensive boards.
The Dolphins came right out in the second half and tied the score on an Andree DeLeon (Flushing, N.Y.) layup on their opening possession and they would go on to take a 44-42 lead after another Koerner triple with 13:45 left in regulation time.
Drew would regain the lead at the 11:25 mark on an Ashley Logan trey that moved it in front 45-44. The Dolphins would not fall behind by more then five points the rest of the night, but would not be able to pull in front of the Rangers.
The Mount closed to within one point twice in the final six and a half minutes, but a put back from Drew’s Eden Blazovic stopped a scoring drought for both teams of nearly three minutes. That tally pushed the Rangers in front by three points with just under three minutes left. Two free throws down the stretch secured the three point win for Drew.
Neither team shot better then 40-percent in the contest, with Mount Saint Vincent converting just 29.8-percent of its opportunities. Drew converted nine three pointers to seven for the Mount, but the big advantage was Drew’s 55-36 edge on the glass. That included a 20-9 advantage on the offensive boards which gave Drew 18 second chance points to none for the Mount.
Koerner finished the night with four three points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. She also grabbed four rebounds for the Dolphins. Heesemann posted her 13th double-double of the season with 11 points and 11 rebounds and Clarke totaled 10 points. Lauren Percodani (Staten Island, N.Y.) finished with three assists and six steals.
Drew was led by Coronto’s 14 points on 5-for-12 shooting overall and 4-for-8 shooting from long distance. Jessica DelVecchio knocked down a pair of triples on her way to 13 points and Blazovic posted 10 for the Rangers. Danielle Barber finished the night with nine points and a game-high seven assists.
The loss is Mount Saint Vincent second straight overall and third straight in the ECAC Tournament opening round. The Dolphins close the season with an 18-10 overall record.
