Emmitsburg, Md. (November 10, 2024)--Mount St. Mary's staged a furious late rally, but came up just shot in a 63-59 loss to visiting FDU in the home opener at Knott Arena on Sunday afternoon. Freshman
Gabrielle Kennerly poured in a team-high 25 points while
Anna LeMaster added 16 points and eight boards for the Mountaineers in the game.
Kennerly, a redshirt freshman, has started her collegiate career with back-to-back 20-point efforts. She opened the year with 20 points and eight rebounds against South Florida on Thursday before tallying 25 points, four rebounds and three steals in today's loss to FDU. She is averaging 22.5 points and 6.0 rebounds over her first two career games. LeMaster added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Mount while Gianna Hoddinott chipped in nine points, three rebounds and three assists. Lilly Parke led FDU with 17 points while Kailee McDonald (15), Abaigael Babore (12) and Ava Renninger (11) all reached double figures in the win for FDU.
Mount St. Mary's (0-2) took a 10-6 lead in the opening quarter on back-to-back buckets from LeMaster and Kennerly, but the Knights (3-0) closed out the stanza on an 8-0 run to take a 14-10 lead. Kennerly opened the second quarter with a bucket for the Mountaineers, but it was FDU who took control with a 16-to-2 run for a 30-14 lead with just under four minutes left in the half. The visitors carried that momentum for a 33-20 lead at the break. The Knights were able to stretch the lead to 47-28 on a Parke three-pointer with 2:01 left in the third quarter, and carried a 17-point advantage into the final 10 minutes.
Trailing by 15 with just over seven minutes remaining, the Mount scored the next 11 points to make it a tight ballgame. Kennerly started the run with back-to-back three-pointers while a traditional three-point play from Hoddinott cut the deficit to 55-49. The Mount got a stop, and Hoddinott converted in the lane to make it 55-51 with 2:25 on the clock. After an FDU basket, Kennerly scored in the paint to cut it to four, and after a pair of FDU free throws, LeMaster connected on a three to make it 59-53 with 16 seconds remaining. FDU hit two more free throws, but Kennerly's three with five seconds left made it a two-point game. FDU's Babore sealed the win with a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds on the clock.
For the game, the Mount shot 42.0 percent (21-of-50), including 9-of-15 (.600) as the Mount outscored the Knights, 26-13, in the fourth quarter. FDU shot 37.5 percent in teh game, but hit 10-of-27 from three-point range. FDU went 5-for-11 from beyond the arc in the second quarter.
Mount St. Mary's stays at home to face Howard on Wednesday, November 13, at 7:00 p.m.
