Women's Basketball: Mount opens NEC tourney with win

EMMITSBURG - Mount St. Mary's forward Rachel Mathews knew she was going to have a tough matchup in Sunday's NEC Tournament quarterfinal.

The 6-foot-1 senior was facing Wagner's Ugo Nwaigwe, a 6-foot-3 sophomore who was just named NEC Defensive Player of the Year for the 2013-14 season.

But that didn't stop Mountaineers coach Bryan Whitten from planning to give the ball to Mathews.

"Coach Whit all weekend long in practice has been telling me, 'Post up on the block. We're going to get you the ball,'" Mathews said.

Mathews was certainly fed the ball. And when she got it, she didn't disappoint. The Mount forward scored a career-high 20 points, pulled down six rebounds, and led the Mountaineers into the tournament semifinals with a 75-66 win over the Seahawks at Knott Arena.

"With such great 3-point shooters on our team, I knew that they were going to especially press up on Sydney [Henderson] and it was going to open up the paint for me," Mathews said. "My teammates were believing in me and I was just feeling it today."

Despite Mathews' career day, Mount St. Mary's (19-12) was up just 47-45 with 11 minutes to go. But that was when the Mountaineers created some sepaeration.

Jenn Carney hit a short jumper and Ashley Christie made a driving layup on consecutive possessions. The following two possessions, Mathews posted up and scored, extending the Mount's lead to 10 with 8:46 remaining.

"If you have the lead and you just play smart and take care of the ball, they've got to come at you," Whitten said. "And now you can use their over-aggressiveness to their disadvantage and look for some backdoor plays or look for some things where they're really on you tight and you can get to the rim with some penetration."

Wagner (9-21) called a timeout after that 8-0 Mount run and after that, the Mountaineers didn't make another field goal. But they did get to the free-throw line quite a bit.

Over the final seven minutes, Mount St. Mary's shot 20 for 26 at the foul line. For the game, the Mountaineers finished 28 for 37 on free throws, led by Mathews' 10 for 13, Christie's 8 for 10, and Henderson's 7 for 8.

"We knew that we just had to keep our composure and just relax when we go the free-throw line and knock them down," Henderson said.

Henderson, a first-team All-NEC selection who leads the Mount in scoring at 17.3 points per game, had 16 points and a team-high seven rebounds. But it wasn't just Henderson and Mathews who were key in building the Mount's first-half lead and then finishing strong.

Christie added 14 and Jessie Kaufman scored 13 coming off of the bench. Kaufman shot 4 for 4 in the first half, including going 3 for 3 from behind the 3-point line.

"I look for my teammates before anything because I know once they start hitting, it'll open up stuff for me," Henderson said. "We always find the open player."

On Wednesday, the No. 2 seed Mountaineers will host third-seeded St. Francis (Pa.) in the semifinals with a spot in the NEC Championship game on the line. Sunday's game was the Mount's first home playoff game since 2002.

Now, the Mountaineers will be in the NEC tournament semifinals for back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2000 and 2001. And again, the Mount, which is 11-3 in Emmitsburg this season, will have home-court advantage.

"We have a lot of people that come out and support us that go to this school. The atmosphere here is amazing. And who wouldn't love to play at home?" Mathews said. "Having the ability to play at home on Wednesday will definitely be an advantage for us. It won't be easy by any means, but we know that it feels good to be home rather than traveling on the road."