EMITTSBURG, Md. ? The Monmouth University women's basketball team overcame a 21-point deficit to defeat Mount St. Mary's 70-66 in Northeast Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Knott Arena.
Jennifer Bender (Staten Island, N.Y./Staten Island Tech) converted back-to-back traditional three-point plays, the second to give Monmouth a 69-66 lead with one minute remaining, to lead the Hawks and complete their amazing second-half comeback.
Monmouth improves to 9-19 and 6-11 in the Northeast Conference, while Mount St. Mary's falls to 8-21 and 6-12. The Hawks greatly improved their chances for qualifying for the 2008 Northeast Conference Tournament with the win, moving into seventh place with the win.
The Hawks outscored Mount 44-22 in the second half, forcing nine second half turnovers. MU won the game on the glass, outrebounding the Mount 45-23 and 18-4 on the offensive end.
Mount St. Mary's jumped out to a 10-4 lead at the 14:53 mark of the first half behind a pair of buckets from their backcourt of Tiffany Green and Hassanah Oliver apiece. Bender then stopped a 7-0 Mount run when she followed her own missed shot and scored to cut the lead to 17-8 at the 13:10 mark of the opening half.
The Mountaineers stretched their lead to 26-11 at the midway point of the first half behind a three-pointer from Brianna Gauthier at the 11:50 mark. The Mount began the game by shooting 61.1 % from the field through the contest's first 10 minutes, while the Hawks committed nine turnovers in that span. Marbely Montas (Cranford, N.J./Elizabeth) stopped a four-minute field goal drought for the Hawks with a basket at the 4:23 mark of the first half, making the score 37-18 in favor of Mount.
A quick 6-0 MU run cut the Mount lead to 37-24 less than two minutes later led by steal and basket by Marisa Jimenez (Carteret, N.J./Carteret). The Mount closed out the first half by outscoring Monmouth 7-2 in the final two minutes to take a 44-26 halftime lead. Bender led the Hawks in the first half with 10 points and five rebounds, while Gauthier led all first-half scorers with 17 points on 4-of-5 three-point field goal shooting for Mount. The hosts shot 57.1 % from the floor in the first half, while MU mustered just 34.5 % from the field. The Hawks outrebounded the Mount 20-14 in the game's first 20 minutes, but turned the ball over 14 times which led to 14 Mount points. The Hawks outscored Mount St. Mary's 11-2 on second chance opportunities, but were outscored 14-4 on fast break points.
The Hawks came out of the halftime break and went on a 10-1 run the first three minutes of the second half, started by a Nyaimah Ware (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) left corner three-pointer, to slice the Mount lead to 45-36 after a Montas jumper from the left wing. MU cut the lead even further after Veronica Randolph (Deerfield Beach, Fla/Deerfield Beach) canned a right wing three-pointer to make it 48-41 Mount with 14:56 left in the game.
Bender swished a three-pointer from the top of the key, her first of the season and second career trey, to make it 50-46 in favor of Mount with 12:25 left in the contest. After a Monmouth defensive stop, Bender then spun baseline side and banked in a field goal to cut the Mount lead to 52-50 with 9:45 left in the game. The Hawks scored 24 points in the second half's first 10 minutes after scoring 26 in all of the first half.
Monmouth took their first lead of the game at 54-53 after Rachel Ferdinand (Califon, N.J./Voorhees) scored after she pulled down an offensive rebound and deposited the put back with 8:20 left in the contest. After the lead changed hands a few times, Randolph missed a three, but Jimenez chased the ball down and saved it back in bounds and it found it's way back to Randolph, who connected on a three to give MU a 63-61 lead with 4:34 left in the game.
Bender led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. Jimenez added 13 and Montas scored 10 for the Hawks, who shot 51.7 % in the second half, while limiting Mount to 33.3 % shooting after halftime.
The Hawks return to action on Monday, March 3 when they host Saint Francis (Pa.) in their 2007-08 regular season finale. Before the game, Monmouth University will honor their five senior women's basketball players, Brianne Edwards, Kim McCloskey, Veronica Randolph, Nyaimah Ware and Lindsey Zegowitz. Tip for the game is set for 7:05 p.m.
