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Raleigh, NC -- The Mount St. Mary's women's basketball team's run came to an end Thursday evening at the NCAA First Four. Despite posting a spirited comeback bid, Longwood denied the Mount's dreams of their first NCAA tournament victory as a Division I program after coming away with a 74-70 victory.
Winning nine of their last 11 to bring the Northeast Conference Tournament title back to Emmitsburg for the second straight season, the Mount finished the 2021-22 campaign with a record of 16-13.
"First thing that comes to mind is how proud I am of this group and how they fought back." Head coach Antoine White said. "That first quarter, I think we were caught off guard with how athletic, fast and quick Longwood is. But credit to our players. They continued to battle, coaches continued to make adjustments and figure this thing out."
Playing her ultimate game as a Mountaineer, graduate guard/forward Kendall Bresee delivered one last thrill, scoring a game-high 20 points while dishing out four assists. Competing for the 127th time in Blue & White – a school record – Kayla Agentowicz added 11 points and two rebounds.
Michaela Harrison and Jessica Tomasetti reached double figures as well, adding 13 apiece.
"We didn't have the best first quarter, but after that, we were neck-and-neck with them." Harrison said. "It proved to us we can run with the more athletic teams, the bigger teams. Proved a lot to ourselves and to other people; not to always count the Mount out. We were seven strong and almost beat a very talented team."
After shooting 20.7 percent from the floor in the first half, Mount St. Mary's didn't miss much in the second half, firing an impressive 70.8 percent (17-for-24).
The Mount, who were down by as many as 22, did not go away by any stretch of the imagination. Bresee went off, putting together a 5-for-5 stretch from the field, including a 3-for-3 effort from downtown, to help the Mount storm back. Delivering one of those threes wtih 3:02 left in the third, Harrison added another to drive the deficit down to 12 by quarter's end. All players rose up to take a stand, with Tess Borgosz's triple providing a spark to keep Mount St. Mary's alive.
"Going into halftime and talking to my teammates and coaches was a good reset for me." Bresee said. "I came out nervous, I came out rushed and like [coach] said, we haven't seen athleticism or pressure like that in a long time. Being able to recollect, regroup, talk to my teammates and coaches, take a deep breath, and realize it's now or never. That was my mindset in the third quarter."
Feeling the momentum and feeding off the energy brought by the fans who traveled to watch them play, the Mountaineers made a push to keep their season alive. Agentowicz brought the squad within single digits with a trey, then secured a layup to cut it to 57-50 and force a Lancers timeout. Free throws pushed the advantage back into double digits, where it stayed until the final two minutes.
Isabella Hunt added foul shots to make it a 66-57 game. With time of the essence, the team had to force turnovers to increase possessions. Tomasetti cashed in on the first with a floater, followed by Agentowicz with a jumper. In a flash, the score stood 69-63 Lancers. Tomasetti continued her scorching hot pace to keep a glimmer of hope, but the Lancers hit foul shots and were able to hang on and advance.
The game began with a 13-0 Longwood run to set the tone in the opening minutes. Akila Smith blazed the trail for the Lancers, scoring eight points in the run and 13 in the quarter.
Mount St. Mary's found stride in the second quarter to setup the comeback, stringing together a run towards the end of the half.
Longwood improves its record to 22-11 and faces top seeded NC State Saturday in First Round action. Smith finished with a double-double of 32 points and 13 rebounds, the highest point total anyone has scored against the Mountaineers all season. Kyla McMakin added 18, with Tra'dayja Smith going 5-for-6 at the charity stripe for 11.