EMMITSBURG, Md. - The Monmouth University women's basketball team dropped a 51-45 decision at Mount St. Mary's University in Northeast Conference play at Knott Arena on Monday evening. The Hawks (15-8, 7-5) dropped their second straight league road game, while the Mount (5-18, 2-10 NEC) won for the second straight time in the NEC.
Erin Rooney (Christchurch, N.Z. /Marian College) led the way for MU with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting. Abby Martin (Maplewood, N.J. /Columbia) chipped in with seven points and six rebounds for the Hawks.
Down by four with less than four minutes to go, MU's Rooney converted a traditional three-point play to cut Mount's lead to 42-41 with 3:40 remaining. After the Mountaineers pushed their lead back to three, Rooney once again cut it to a single point after hitting two free throws with 1:15 left.
Four free throws from MSM extended its lead to 48-43 with 29.9 seconds left, and MU would get no closer in falling on the road.
The Mountaineers raced out to an 8-5 lead with 15:46 left in first half as Sandra Andresson scored all of the host's points to that point, including a pair of three-pointers. Despite a triple from Gabby Singer (Harrisburg, Pa. /Central Dauphin), who canned a shot from beyond the arc upon being inserted into the contest, the Mount maintained a 13-12 lead with 11:40 remaining before halftime.
Martin cleaned up a missed shot from Chevannah Paalvast (Auckland, N.Z. /Massey), who came up with a steal but missed her transition jumper, to give the Hawks a 16-15 lead with 8:51 left in the first period. MSM pushed its lead to 26-18 with 2:51 left before intermission behind 17 points from Andresson.
Mount's leading scorer added two more points, taking a game-high 19 into the halftime locker room to pace the host's to a 28-20 intermission lead. The Mountaineers shot 45.5% from the floor in the first 20 minutes, while MU, who was led by Rooney's eight points, shot 29%.
Singer buried a triple to help Monmouth cut MSM's lead to 28-26 with 17 minutes left in the game. MU outscored the Mount, 15-6 over the first 10 minutes of the second half, punctuated by two Rooney three's, to take a 35-34 lead.
After Mount briefly took a one-point lead, sophomore Carly Thibault (East Lyme, Conn. /East Lyme) buried a three-pointer in front of Monmouth's bench to give the Hawks a 38-36 lead with seven minutes remaining in regulation. The Mount regained a lead, and held a four-point advantage at 42-38 with less than four minutes to go.
Mount was paced by Andresson's career-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting.
The Hawks return to action when they travel to North Jersey for a Saturday visit to Fairleigh Dickinson. Tip is set for 4:30 pm.
