Women’s basketball picks up steam to start MAAC conference play

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(2/2025) At the end of the 2024 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference playoffs, the Mount St. Mary’s women’s basketball team suffered a crushing 80-57 loss to Siena in Atlantic City to end their campaign. And at the start of the 2024-25 season., the team got off to a tough start, going 2-6 against their non-conference opponents. But even after their opening day 68-51 loss to South Florida and their 87-52 loss to No. 7 Maryland, the team has found themselves in a good bit of form heading into conference play. With a three-game win streak against the likes of Sacred Heart, Rider, and a overtime win against Quinnipiac, head coach Antoine White and his team have struck a performance vein that has caused them to rise up to sixth place in the conference standings.

To start their MAAC campaign, the team suffered a tough 61-50 overtime loss to Marist in Emmitsburg on December 19. A 14-point game by Madison Ruff and a 10-point and eight rebound performances by Anna LeMaster was thwarted by the fast play of the Red Foxes in the second half. The team suffered another setback in their conference play as they traveled to Fairfield on December 21, eventually losing 76-61. With a 0-2 start to their conference schedule, the team traveled to Baltimore to face Morgan State, losing once again by a close scoreline of 72-68 on December 30.

With the team due to travel on their longest away trip of the year to Niagara, New York on January 4 to face off against the Purple Eagles, a quick win was due to help get their season back on track, and the team delivered. For the first three quarters, the Mount kept things close, accruing a 10-point lead against Niagara heading into the third intermission. But the Mountaineers finally made the switch to a much more aggressive style of offensive play, outscoring their opponents 28-17 in the final quarter and winning 89-68. In her ninth start of the year, Jo Raflo scored her then season high 25-points followed by nine rebounds in her 33 minutes on the court. Jaedyn Jamison also grabbed nine boards followed by Lemaster and Ruff grabbing a further nine rebounds each to give the team 50 rebounds on the night.

Their next meeting in the New Year was with Manhattan and a trip back home to Emmitsburg on January 9. With a four-point advantage heading into the locker room at halftime, the team felt confident about getting rid of their recent losing skid, but a dominant 23-5 third quarter gave the Jaspers a commanding lead against the Mountaineers, eventually ending the game 75-47. A quiet but energetic team bus ride to Sacred Heart a day later led to an intense build up in the showdown against the team’s former Northeast Conference rivals on January 11.

In a pre-game team meeting, Coach White and the rest of his coaching staff emphasized a aggressive style of basketball that at its route, was very technical. Key to this strategy was fast-paced ball movement, touches in the paint under the basket, offensive rebounds, and the winning of contested balls in open court. Another way of overwhelming the Pioneers lay in a high defensive press where a double-coverage defense on the ball handler could lead to more turnovers over the course of the game.

With an emphasis on a system that included overwhelming pressing, the Mountaineers were able to score 22 points off of turnovers in a 75-51 route of the Pioneers. Raflo notched another 20+ point game, putting 22 points past Sacred Heart while going 8-9 from the field and 6-7 from beyond the 3-point line all the while completing three steals. Gabrielle Kennerly scored 15 points while providing four assists her teammates. Giana Hoddinott completed a further three steals and provided six assists from inside the paint. And LeMaster scored 13 points while grabbing six rebounds, with five of them coming in transition heading down the court.

A happy bus ride home was a welcome reprieve to a 72-hour period of 80 minutes of basketball, travel up Route 76, and the constant pressure and strains of practicing and living as Division 1 athletes. With the bus pulling back into the ARCC at 7:30 p.m., the clock began ticking on the rest and recovery the team would need to face their next opponents in Rider at home on January 16. And to start the game, the team picked up right where they had left off from at Sacred Heart, putting 39 points past the Broncs in the first half to their 31. With clutch shots from the likes of Raflo and Rosa Revueltas Pareja, the team looked poised to continue the offensive form into the second half. But an even 12-12 contest in the third quarter led to a tight runoff for the fourth quarter. And even though the Mount was outscored in the fourth 17-15, the team held on for a close 66-60 win for their second in a row.

The team traveled back to New England for their matchup against Quinnipiac on January 18 with little more than a day’s rest from their last physical game of basketball. The Bobcats took a two-point lead into the first intermission as they led 16-14 at the end of the first quarter. A 21-point quarter for the Mount followed in the second as the combination between LeMaster and Raflo flowed to take a 35-29 lead into halftime. Quinnipiac followed up with great offense in the third quarter, scoring 22 points compared to the Mount’s nine points in the third. Another shootout ensued as the Mount outscored the Bobcats in the fourth quarter by a scoreline of 16-9, forcing overtime in Hamden. A LeMaster three-pointer came within the first minute of extra-time followed by a layup from Kennerly and a floater from Raflo to start to distance the score. Two made free-throws from LeMaster in the final seconds of overtime to round of a 69-64 victory for the Mountaineers and a third win in a row.

From the beginning of this season up until this point, the team has carried a under dog mentality that has been vital to the victories that they have earned across the season. They may not matchup physically with other teams, but they certainly have the talent to grind out wins. One only has to look to their most recent victory against second place Quinnipiac to see. But a overarching message from the coaching staff seems to flow throughout the team: be grateful for the opportunity that you get to play the game you love at the level that they are at. That mentality is often much greater then any physical or technical advantage that another team could bring to the table.