EMMITSBURG, Md. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team defeated Mount St. Mary's 60-57 Saturday afternoon at Knott Arena. The Hawks improve to 16-9 and 9-5 in the Northeast Conference while Mount drops to 11-14 and 9-6 in the NEC.
Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) hit a left-wing three-point field goal with 1:50 left in the game and the Hawks' didn't look back, holding off a late Mount rally.
MU led by as many as 14 points in the second half after a Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla./Deerfield Beach) three-point field goal at the 16:00 mark of the game, but Mount battled back to take a 52-50 lead before Jimenez's heroics.
Jimenez led the Hawks with a career-high 23 points, including 15 in the second half. LaKia Barber (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) added 12 points, while Randolph finished with seven points and nine rebounds.
Monmouth took an early 8-6 lead behind two early three-point field goals, the first by Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield) and then Randolph at the 16:30 mark of the first half.
The Hawks then went over six minutes without a field goal until Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) hit a baseline jump shot to draw MU within four points at 14-10 at the 10:08 mark of the opening stanza.
MU then tied the Mount at 16-16 at the 4:55 mark of the first half following back-to-back Barber buckets.
Jimenez then took the end of the first half over, hitting three straight free throws, canning a three-point field goal and blocking an Ashley Liller lay-up to give MU a 24-20 halftime advantage. MU's defense led the way in the first half as they held the Mount to 29.2 % field-goal shooting. The 20 points the Blue and White allowed were the fewest in a first half this season since surrendering 21 to Wagner back on January 8.
The Hawks began the second half much the same way they ended the first, coming out of the locker room on a 14-3 run triggered by a Randolph three-pointer and Edwards' traditional three-point play to take a 38-28 lead at the 14:42 mark.
The Hawks return to action Monday, February 19 when they begin a three-game home-stand by hosting Central Connecticut State at 7 p.m. at Boylan Gym.
Pictured: Sophomore Marisa Jimenez.
