Blakney Reaches 1,000 Points against Blue Knights
Mount Saint Mary - 68, Farmingdale State - 60
Newburgh, N.Y. - Junior guard Kimberly Blakney (Brooklyn,
N.Y./Benjamin Banneker) reached the 1,000 point scoring mark today
with a 29-point effort at Mount Saint Mary. In a very physical
contest, the Mount Saint Mary College women's basketball team held
on for a 68-60 victory over Farmingdale State College in Skyline
Conference action on Saturday. The Blue Knights took over sole
possession of first place in the conference, improving to 5-0 in
the Skyline and 7-4 overall. The Rams fell to 7-4 overall and 5-1
in the conference.
Mount Saint Mary led by fourteen (41-27) at the half and pushed
their lead to twenty in the opening minutes of the second. Trailing
48-28, Farmingdale rattled off the next twelve points to make the
score 48-40 with 13:44 to play. The lead ranged from five to ten
points for the next eight minutes and then junior Catie Biordi
(Beacon, N.Y.) hit perhaps the biggest shot of the afternoon,
draining a three-pointer to extend the lead to nine (60-51) with
just over five minutes to go.
The Rams closed the gap to four at the 2:38 mark when freshman
Dominique Cunningham (Amityville, N.Y.) hit a fast break lay-up on
a feed from junior Tiffara Steward (Elmont, N.Y.). Mount Saint Mary
junior Meredith Paggi (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) answered with a
bucket at the other end to push the lead back to six. After
Farmingdale junior Kimberly Blakney (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit one-of-two
at the line, the teams traded two empty possessions. Mount
Saint Mary freshman Sarah Joseph (East Hampton, Conn.) hit a pair
of clutch free throws to put the game out of reach (65-58) with
just ninety seconds to play.
Paggi, despite shooting just 8-for-21 from the field, led the team
with 23 points. She also chipped in 10 rebounds to complete a
double-double. Biordi was the only other player in double figures
for the Mount with 12. Junior Shannon Sangster (Syracuse, N.Y.) had
8 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Blakney led the Rams with 29 points, while freshman Shemique Hooks
(Westbury, N.Y.) had 19 points, but shot just 7-for-21. Blakney and
Hooks combined for 50 of Farmingdale's 64 shots.
Farmingdale finished 19-for-64 (29.7-percent) from the field and
6-for-24 (25-percent) from the free throw line. Mount Saint Mary
was 22-for-55 (40-percent) from the field and 18-for-28
(64.3-percent) from the line.
The Rams will now face Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday,
January 17th at 3:00 p.m.
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