Close First Half of Acton Not Enough as Mount Saint Mary Pulls Away from Women's Basketball

NEWBURGH, N.Y. — In a well-played first 20 minutes that saw the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team (10-8, 8-5 Skyline) down by one heading into halftime, Mount Saint Mary College (15-3, 13-0 Skyline) distanced themselves; winning the game by a final score of 76-53 on Tuesday night from the Kaplan Center.

How it Happened

The Bears opened the game on an 8-0 run with junior Kelly O'Donnell (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Edmund Prep) scoring six points. As the Knights began to chip away at their deficit, O'Donnell scored the Bears' remaining eight points of the first quarter; good to give them a 16-14 lead going into the second.

Emma Kiley (Whitestone, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) and Deserae Sequeira (Clark, N.J./Arthur L. Johnson) scored following an MSMC three-pointer to give the Bears a temporary lead. The hosts responded and retook the lead for much of the second quarter. O'Donnell tied the game at 29 from the charity stripe with 1:20 left in the period. Kiley gave the Bears a two-point lead with 45 seconds left on the clock before the Knights drained a three to head into the intermission up 32-31.

The Bears saw the lead swing back into their favor to start the second half. However, four minutes into the third, Mount Saint Mary took a lead that they wouldn't surrender. The Bears did manage to fall behind by as little as three points thanks to shots from the foul line by Jamie Provino (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) halfway through the period. By the end of the third, the Knights limited the Bears to just nine points and led 50-47 going into the fourth quarter.

O'Donnell led the team with seven points in the fourth quarter while Provino and Sequeira combined for three to provide the scoring for St. Joseph's. However, that wasn't enough for the Bears as the Knights won the game, 76-53, taking both games from SJC this season.

For the Bears

• O'Donnell's finished with a game-high 28 points, two short of her second 30-point game of the year. She logged six boards and four steals
• Sequeira scored nine points, brought down six rebounds, and dished out four assists
• Provino posted seven points and six rebounds
• Kiley recorded 11 rebounds, 4 blocks, and as many points

Up Next

The Bears are back at The Hill Center on Saturday, February 1 against Sarah Lawrence College. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. with live stats are available on SJCBears.com/live.