#4 Farmingdale State - 40, #1 Mount Saint Mary - 29
Newburgh, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State women's basketball team won their first-ever game at Mount Saint Mary College as they earned a 40-29 victory in the semifinals of the Skyline Conference playoffs this evening in Newburgh, N.Y. The Rams improved to 11-12 on the season and will travel to #2 Purchase College for the Skyline Finals on Saturday.
Trailing 14-5 midway through the first half, the Rams responded with a 14-0 run to take a 19-14 lead with 2:05 remaining. Mount Saint Mary (17-9) cut the deficit to three, before senior guard Nikita Green (Roosevelt, N.Y.) connected on a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the half to give Farmingdale State a 22-16 lead at the break. Sophomore guard Christina Merrill (Levittown, N.Y.) had a game-high nine first half points for the Rams.
Farmingdale State held Mount Saint Mary to only two points over the first 10:50 of the second half as they increased their lead to 33-18. The Knights cut the deficit to nine, 35-26, with 3:08 remaining but a pair of Siohban Purvis (Amityville, N.Y.) free-throw's brought the Rams lead back to double-digits. The Knights would only pull within nine points over the final minutes as Farmingdale State won their first-ever game at the Kaplan Center.
Junior guard Nicky Young (Queens, N.Y.) scored a game-high 13 points and added six rebounds, while Merrill tallied 11 points and had five steals.
Mount Saint Mary was led by junior forward Rachel Perrone (Poughquag, N.Y.) and junior guard Amanda Smith (Dayton, Ohio) who each scored eight points in the loss.
The Rams will travel to second-seeded Purchase College for the Skyline Finals on Saturday, February 23rd at 4:00 p.m.
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