Farmingdale State - 65, Mount Saint Vincent - 48
Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State women's basketball team earned a 65-48 win over Mount Saint Vincent this evening to claim their sixth straight Skyline Conference victory. The Rams improved to 8-7 overall and 7-1 in conference play, while the Dolphins fell to 5-7, 3-5.
FSC scored the first five points of the game on a 3 from senior guard Kaelyn Ward (East Hampton, N.Y.) and an Essence Casey (Huntington Station, N.Y.) jumper but the Dolphins answered with eight straight to go out in front, 8-5. The Rams closed the quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 15-10 lead after one.
Over the opening 4:47 of the second quarter, Mount Saint Vincent outscored Farmingdale State 6-0 to regain the lead, 16-15. Senior guard Liz Durchhalter (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and Casey responded with 3-pointers as FSC took a 21-16 advantage with 4:11 remaining.
With 57 seconds left in the first and the Rams ahead 23-19, CMSV freshman guard Gabriela Goldman (Danbury, Conn.) closed the half with a 3-pointer which cut the deficit to 23-22 heading into the break. Durchhalter led all scorers with nine points (on three 3's) in the first half.
Leading 30-29 with 6:27 remaining in the third, Farmingdale State used an 11-3 run over the next 2:07 to extend the advantage to nine, 41-32. After a Yamilersy Reyes (Monticello, N.Y.) 3-pointer cut the CMSV deficit to 41-35, an Alexis Hunter (Brooklyn, N.Y.) layup and pair of free-throws from Khandra Rhoden (Brentwood, N.Y.) put the Rams on top by 10.
With 8:44 left to play and FSC leading 45-42, the Rams used a 13-2 run which saw seven points by Casey and six from Ward to extend the lead to 58-44. Farmingdale State outscored the Dolphins 7-4 over the final 3:28 to earn the 65-48 victory.
Durchhalter scored a career-high 21 points after hitting seven 3-pointers, which was one shy of the FSC single game record. Casey finished the night with 17 points and seven rebounds, while junior guard Alexis Antonacci (Plainview, N.Y.) had six points and a game-high eight assists.
For Mount Saint Vincent, senior guard Kristen Merrell (Staten Island, N.Y.) tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards.
The Rams next travel to Merchant Marine for a Skyline Conference game on Saturday, January 13th at noon.
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