Cresson, PA - In their first AMCC Tournament appearance, the D'Youville women's basketball team got off to a great start at Mount Aloysius but a first-half scoring drought led to a big run the Spartans couldn't overcome and the hosts came away with a 71-54 win.

Bridget Andrews (Amherst, NY/Sacred Heart Academy) scored a team-high 14 points followed by a career-high 13 points from Casey Bartels (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa). Jean-Ann Korona (Washingtonville, NY/Washingtonville) would finish with 11 points.

Seeded third in the six-team AMCC Tournament field, Mount Aloysius had defeated the number six seed D'Youville twice during the regular season. Over those two games, D'Youville had not had held the lead at any point and forged just one tie score.

The first eight-plus minutes of this game did not follow the script. There were three ties and three lead changes between the teams.

A Shannon Dougherty (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) three-ball gave the Spartans a 12-10 lead with 11:23 left in the first half.  The Spartans would not score over the next 6:45 and Mount Aloysius went on a 15-0 run over that stretch and home team would not trail again in the contest.

D'Youville trailed at the half 34-17 and the Mounties' lead would swell to a 24-point advantage, their largest of the game, with 11:22 left to play.

Credit the Spartans for continuing to play with the effort they have shown all season. That huge deficit was chipped away over the next nine minutes and after an Andrews three-pointer with 2:02 left to play the Spartans found themselves down by just eight points.

It was a sign of success against a team the Spartans had little against this season. When the Aloysius lead reached 24, D'Youville then outscored the Mounties 32-21 over the last eleven minutes.

The Mounties got it done tonight over D'Youville in two areas. Despite a game-high 12 rebounds from center Alexis Smith (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg), Mount Aloysius held a 51-38 edge on the boards.

The hosts also held a decisive edge at the free-throw line. Aloysius got to the line 41 times, making 29. D'Youville made 13 free-throws on just 29 attempts.

"I am proud of the progress we made from last year to this year," stated Spartans' coach Dan Glover after the game. "We have to build on this for next season."

D'Youville was making their first appearance in an AMCC Tournament since joining the league in 2009-10. The 11-win season put together by this season's squad was the program's highest since the 2008-09 team.