EMMITSBURG, MD (February 16, 2015)—Katie Shepard (Lone Tree, Colo.) and Hannah Kimmel's (Harpursville, N.Y.) double-doubles led the Sacred Heart women's basketball team to a narrow victory over Mount St. Mary's 66-60 Monday night in the Knott Arena. The senior guard tied her season-best with 15 points while dishing out an impressive career high 10 assists. Kimmel's recorded her tenth double-double of the season leading the team with 20 points and 10 rebounds as SHU improves to 13-10 overall and 8-5 in Northeast Conference play and the Mount falls to 7-18 on the season and 5-9 against conference foes.
The teams exchanged buckets and with it the lead five times in the first four and a half minutes of the game. With 12:25 left in the first half, Kimmel laid one in knotting the score at 13 before Jacqueline Brewer, who led all players with 28 points, put in the first two of Mount St. Mary's 12-point run giving the Mountaineers the first significant lead of the game.
The Pioneers chipped away at MSM's lead and with 1:49 remaining in the first half, Shepard landed a jumper in the paint to bring SHU within one of catching the Mount, 30-29. With less than a minute on the clock, Brewer hit a trey extending Mount St. Mary's lead, but getting the ball off of Gabrielle Washington's (Mesa, Ariz.) rebound, Shepard sprinted down the court pulling up at the arch to knock down a triple at buzzer sending Sacred Heart into the locker room at halftime down just one point 33-32.
Sacred Heart wasted no time in the second half as Kimmel made an easy layup just 20 seconds into the half to give the Pioneers a 34-33 advantage. Almost a minute later, Lerae Ettienne (Kensington, Md.) fround the hole for two, and on the next possession Adaysha Williams (LaCrosse, Wis.) found a wide open Shepard at the top of the key for three points forcing Mount St. Mary's Head Coach Bryan Whitten to use a timeout.
The break proved fruitful as Sarafina Arthur-Williams drove the lane for a layup on the next possession sparking a eight-point streak that put the Mountaineers back on top 41-39 with just under 15 minutes left in the game. The teams went back to exchanging baskets with the score tying at 41 and Mount taking a short lead 43-41 before Washington, Kimmel and Shepard combined for six points and a 45-41 lead.
Mount St. Mary's narrowed SHU's lead to two points, 52-50, but two big defensive stops by rookie Katherine Haines (Ridgefield Park, N.J.) lit a fire under the Pioneers who extended SHU's lead to 56-50 behind baskets from Kimmel and Shepard.
The Pioneers continued to extend their lead as the clock wound down, and despite late fouls allowing the Mountaineers to cut their lead to just four points, picked up their eighth Northeast Conference victory of the season.
Sacred Heart completes its three-game road trip when it travels to New Britain, Conn. to battle in-state rival Central Connecticut State, who is currently in second place in the NEC.
