EMMITSBURG, Md. (Jan. 2, 2020) - The Mount St. Mary's women's basketball team used a blistering offensive attack in the first half and tenacious defense in the second half to prevail in their 2019-20 Northeast Conference (NEC) opener, defeating Wagner 78-63 Thursday at Knott Arena. 

"We said all along defense would win us this game." Head Coach Maria Marchesano said. "We did a really good job of pushing the ball and getting out in transition in the first half. The second half we didn't do that as well but our defense stepped up down the stretch." 

Jatarrikah Settle led the charge with 15 points and eight rebounds. Michaela Harrison added 14 points including a trio of triples, and Kendall Bresee finished with 11 points, six rebounds and a game-high three steals. For the first time, Mount won a game without four or more players reaching double figures, thanks to a balanced attack where a pair of players reached nine points, a third scored eight and a fourth scored seven. 

"That's our game. If we push the ball we have a good chance of winning." Settle said. "The first half was a lot of fun - it was like practice reps for us. I don't know if everybody ate good today, but everybody was knocking down shots, getting out in transition, and it felt good." 

The 51.9 percentage from the floor marks the fourth contest so far that the Mountaineers completed more than half their shots. The last occurrence was a 52 percent effort against Loyola on December 6th.

Mount St. Mary's (6-7, 1-0 NEC) was on pace for their highest shooting percentage of the season at half with 59.4 percent from the field. The result was a lead as large as 21 points with 4:18 remaining in the second quarter. Wagner kept themselves in the contest with an 11-0 run after that to trim the deficit back down to 10. Rebecca Lee led the first 20 minutes for the Mountaineers with nine points, followed by Settle with eight and Bresee with seven. 

The scoring outburst began early, after Wagner took a brief 4-1 lead over the first three minutes played. A trey from Settle tied up the score, and a fast break layup from Birkhead gave the Mount the lead for the rest of the half, except for a momentary tie game at 19-19. From there the advantage steadily grew to the midway point of the second quarter, as the Mountaineers double their first quarter score. 

Scoring fell cold in the second half as Wagner looked to climb back into the contest. The Seahawks trimmed to deficit from 12 to six in the opening three minutes, using a press defense to stifle the Mount's offense. Despite being held to 25 percent from the floor for a total of nine points, Mount stepped up defensively and kept Wagner to 11 points. The Mountaineers held a 57-47 lead heading into the final quarter. 

Both teams traded buckets for the opening minutes of the fourth, but the Mount took control after a hoop-and-harm play by Harrison pushed the lead back to double digits with 5:24 left. Strong defense continued to be a hallmark for the Mount, who held Wagner in the 50's until the final moments. Free throws down the stretch helped seal the deal. 

Wagner (4-8, 0-1 NEC) was led by Emilija Krista Grava, who supplied 15 points and six rebounds. 

The Mountaineers remain home for a Saturday (Jan. 4) evening contest with the Long Island Sharks. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. at Knott Arena.