NEWTON, Mass. – With an 80-69 victory over visiting Bay Path University on Saturday afternoon at Mount Ida Athletic Center, the Mount Ida College women's basketball team picked up their first win of the season and gave first year Head Coach Katie Greene her first victory on the bench.
The Mustangs (1-4) used a game-high 28 points from Katlyn Jesse (Marshfield, Mass.) and got double-doubles from three players to collect the victory in their home opener and send Bay Path (2-1) to their first defeat of the year.
Jesse and sophomore Trish Liotta (Hampton Bays, N.Y.), who poured in 19 points, each had ten rebounds, while junior Angelique Martinez (Taunton, Mass.) got her double-double with 15 points and a game-high 19 caroms, to go with six blocks, the second most in a game in school history.
Bay Path was led by a double-double themselves, as junior forward Dallas Jackson (Springfield, Mass.) scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, to go along with three assists and four steals.
It looked as though Mount Ida would control the game from start to finish, as they jumped out to a 6-0 advantage and then stretched that lead to 16-4 thanks to three-pointers by Jesse and Liotta. Another triple by Liotta gave Mount Ida their biggest lead of the game, 25-10, and they settled for a 12 point advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The Wildcats cut into the lead by outscoring the Mustangs 22-15 in the second ten minutes. A 9-0 run in the final minutes of the second half, capped by a three-pointer by Brenna Roy (Stafford Springs, Conn.) cut the Mount Ida lead to 40-37, and only a layup by Martinez helped give Mount Ida a 42-37 halftime lead.
That was a lead Mount Ida would lose in the third quarter, in which the Wildcats scored the first ten points and took a 47-42 lead on a Jackson layup with 6:03 to play in the frame. However, Mount Ida answered with a 10-0 run of their own and Jesse put the exclamation mark on the run by converting a traditional three-point play as the Mustangs got their noses back in front.
Roy re-tied the game at 52 with a three-point jump shot, and the teams went to the final quarter with the Mustangs clinging to a 61-56 lead, but Mount Ida outscored the Wildcats 19-13 in the last ten minutes to earn the win.
Junior Brittany Crosby (Riverside, R.I.) had ten rebounds and seven points, aiding in Mount Ida's 60-43 edge on the glass.
Those same numbers were put up by Bay Path senior Elizabeth Haylette (Terryville, Conn.), who added three assists, while Briana Kujawski (Webster, Mass.) came off the bench to contribute eight points for the visitors.
The Mustangs got a team-high four assists from junior Marysa Dwyer (Quincy, Mass.).
Mount Ida closes out their pre-Thanksgiving schedule on Tuesday evening when they host Framingham State at 5:00 pm, part of a basketball double-header that concludes with the men's team hosting Newbury at 7:00.
Bay Path looks to rebound with a trip to play at Albertus Magnus on Monday at 7:00 pm, their third consecutive game against a Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) member.