WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J.- Mount St. Mary's countered Monmouth's dominating effort on the glass by shooting the lights out en route to a 78-72 victory Saturday afternoon at Boylan Gym.
The Hawks worked the boards to the tune of a 49-26 margin but Mount shot 50 percent on the game, including a 57% first half effort, to clinch the six point victory
Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret) hit a jumper for the first Hawk points of the second half but Monmouth still trailed by four in the early goings of the frame. Junior Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) needed just over two minutes of the half to tally her seventh double-double of the year, hitting her eighth shot of the night to cut the Mount lead to 42-41. Two more times Monmouth was able to climb to within one but each time the Mountaineers answered by scoring on their offensive possession.
A Brianna Gauthier three pointer gave Mount a 52-47 lead at the first media timeout, but Brianne Edwards (Bloomfield, Conn./Suffield) answered with a three of her own to close to within a bucket. Despite a decent offensive effort, Monmouth could not stop the hot hands of the Mountaineers as the visitors built up a six point lead at the halfway point of the final frame. Marbely Montas' (Cranford, N.J./Elizabeth) eight foot jumpshot found the Hawks back by just three but Mount answered with their sixth three pointer of the night to restore a six point advantage.
Montas hit an inside shot with just over four minutes to play but the visitors answered back with a pair of free throws to keep the margin at six. Edwards hit a three pointer with three minutes to play as MU trailed the Mountaineers 71-66. A Tiffany Green three pointer seemed to put the game out of reach for the Hawks but McElroy answered right back with a shot from behind the arc and the deficit was back down to five with 1:32 left in regulation. Monmouth was unable to score after getting a key defensive stop late and Mount rode out the rest of the clock to clinch the 76-69 victory.
The first half lead changed five times in the opening four minutes with Monmouth getting most of its points in the paint against an undersized Mountaineer team. Mount broke open the back and forth game at the 14:54 mark when Tiffany Green scored a fast break layup to give her team an 11-6 lead. The Mountaineers held onto a 19-12 lead with just over 11 minutes left before McElroy hit a three pointer from the wing for her first points of the game.
Back to back inside shots by the Hawks tied the game at 19-19 but Mount rattled off five straight points to retake a multi-possession lead. McElroy's second three ball cut the lead to 26-22 with 6:32 but Monmouth was still in need of a few key defensive stops. MU closed to a pair once again when Edwards followed up Lauren Howell with a trey of her own. Bender's 12th point of the first half tied the game at 35-35 with 1:25 to play but Mount eventually hit a shot with 13 seconds left to take a 39-37 lead into to break.
Bender led all scorers with 23 points, one shy of her career high. She also tallied her seventh double-double of the year, grabbing 14 boards. McElroy finished with 14 points and four assists. Jimenez finished with 10 points as 10 Hawks saw time in the game.
Mount St. Mary's had all five starters score in double digits, led by Green's 23 points. Gaithier was second on the team with 13 points while adding five assists on the day.
Mount improves to 7-17 (5-8 NEC) while Monmouth falls to 7-15 overall and 4-7 in conference play.
Monmouth continues its bid for a spot at the NEC Tournament on Monday when they face Sacred Heart in Fairfield at 7 p.m.
