Late-game rally not enough as Sage falls to MSMC, 68-65

Late-game rally not enough as Sage falls to MSMC, 68-65

Newburgh, NY–Sage's women's basketball team travelled to Mt. St. Mary College for a non-conference match-up with the Knights. After playing to a 26-26 tie at the half, the host Knights had trailed 52-47 at the end of the third quarter before a strong fourth quarter proved to be the difference as MSMC topped Sage, 68-65. With the win, MSMC is now 7-3 overall, while Sage drops to 4-6.

The game was tied at 54-54 for the 12th tie of the night at 6:20 before MSMC going on a 12-3 run and held a 66-57 lead with 1:33 left to play. Sage's sophomore guard Sammy Pasinella (Troy, NY/Mechanicville) hit a three before senior tri-captain Megan Flynn (Hoosick Falls, NY/Hoosick Falls Central) made a layup and helped the Gators cut the lead to just four, 66-62 with 0:39 left to play. MSMC's Lyndsay Pace made just one free throw of the bonus attempts at 0:34 to make the score MSMC 67-62. Sage's senior Gessica Patregnani (Troy, NY/Lansingburgh) hit a three pointer with seven seconds left to cut the lead to three but Sage could not tie the game to force overtime as they had to send MSMC to the free throw line.

For the game, Sage had four players finish in double-digits scoring led by the play of Pasinella as she had 18 points with four rebounds and two assists and added three three-point baskets. Graduate player Kaitlyn Bowman (Chateaugay, NY/Saranac) had 12 points with 12 rebounds and six assists. Flynn added 11 rebounds with six points, while Patregnani finished with 10 points and was 2-3 from three-point range. The Gators combined to out-rebound the Knights 59-30 in the contest.  

MSMC's Lauren Desrats added 16 points and was 3-6 from three-point range, while Lyndsay Pace added 13 points with three assists and three steals. Morina Bojka added 12 points for the Knights as they forced 29 Sage turnovers on the night.

Sage's Bowman now has 787 career points and is currently 13th on the all-time career scoring list, while also collecting 649 rebounds which puts her fourth. Flynn checks in with 621 career points, while adding 508 rebounds. She is 9th all-time in career rebounding, while moving closer to cracking the program's Top 20 list in scoring.

Patregnani surpassed the 600 career point plateau on Thursday night and now has 603 career points, while adding an impressive 132 career three-point baskets. She is currently fourth all-time at Sage in career three-pointers made. This season is among the three-point shooting leaders as she is shooting 25-37 this year. As of January 1, she is the NCAA Division III shooting leader with her impressive 67.7% effort.

Sage will be in action on January 4 hosting the Rams of Suffolk University in a 1 p.m. non-conference contest in Kahl Gym.