Box Score

Purchase, NY (Jan. 7, 2013) – There may indeed be a first time for everything.

Stifled by Mount Saint Mary since joining the Skyline Conference in 2007-08, Purchase women's basketball accomplished a long awaited goal Monday night: Beating MSMC, something the program had never done as a member of the this league.

When the buzzer sounded after 40 minutes, the Panthers had earned a 50-36 victory against the conference's premier program and its usual representative come tournament time in March.

Purchase raced out to a near double-digit lead in the first half, maintaining a good six-point margin for most of the first 20 minutes before MSMC reeled off a nice late first-half push. The Knights would take a 26-24 margin into halftime.

But the suffocating Panther defense limited MSMC to 10 total points the rest of the way, shocking the visitors from Newburgh.

Purchase head coach Kellianne Dunlay had circled the matchup on her calendar and pushed her team to respond to the challenge of measuring up against the best the conference has to offer. Double-digit losses in the past to MSMC had created an image that no Panther team would ever be able to measure up.

But that certainly wasn't the case Monday night. The Panthers rebounded from MSMC's last first-half push and outscored the visitors 26-10 down the stretch.

The Panthers were led by newcomer Talia Beaulieu (SR/Waldorf, MD) and her 16 points. Lineker St.Hilaire (SO/Wyandanch, NY) added 13 points, including several highlight reel plays. Jessica Biggs (SR/Nanuet, NY) contributed nine points off the bench. St.Hilaire and Beaulieu each finished with double-doubles, notching 11 rebounds apiece.

St.Hilaire also swiped six steals in a tremendous all-around effort. Beaulieu was equally impressive, especially on the offensive end, where she connected on two 3s and spearheaded the second-half outburst for Purchase.
 
Purchase won the rebounding margin 40-27 and shot 36.2 percent for the game, while limiting MSMC to a 28.6 percent mark from the field.

The Panthers (6-7, 1-2 Skyline) will look to build off their first conference win of the season Wednesday night when they welcome Old Westbury to Purchase for a 5 p.m. tip-off.