By Justin Satkowski
NEWBURGH - Trailing by one after the opening twenty minutes, Mount Saint Mary College dominated the second half on its way to a 64-44 victory over NYU-Poly in Skyline Conference action on Saturday. The Knights move back to the .500 mark at 7-7 (4-1 Skyline), while the Fighting Blue Jays dropped to 4-7 (2-2 Skyline).
Following a back-and-forth start to the second half, the Knights held a two-point advantage as the clock ticked under 14 minutes to play. A three-pointer from sophomore Lauren Romao kicked off a 10-1 run for the Knights. Sophomore Amanda Smith capped the run with a bucket at the 9:12 mark to give the Mount a 44-33 lead. NYU-Poly wouldn’t get within single digits the rest of the way and the Knights stretched away for the 20-point victory.
Mount Saint Mary was able to turn things around with a huge improvement in its field goal percentage. The Knights managed just nine field goals in the opening half while shooting just 27.3-percent. In the second, MSMC made 18 field goals at a rate of 56.3-percent.
Junior Rachel Perrone led all scorers with 16 points on 7-of-14 from the field. The Knights also got a strong effort from sophomore Natalie Candarelli, who finished with 14 points. Romao added nine points on the strength of three three-pointers.
Freshman Alyssa D’Apice led NYU-Poly in scoring with 10 points.
The win was the second in a row for the Knights, who will play several games on the road before returning home on Tuesday, January 22nd when they host Purchase College.
