ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. -- The Mount Holyoke College basketball team threatened the lead with runs to end each half, but the Bard College Raptors held off the Lyons both times and prevailed 45-36 in a non-conference game played Tuesday night, the first game of 2024 for both teams.
Sophomore Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.) played one of her best games in a Lyons uniform, scoring a team-high 12 points and grabbing a career-high 17 rebounds for her first career double-double. White added three steals and two blocked shots for good measure.
"I think we competed really well and executed what we wanted to, and things are almost fully coming together," said White. "I felt great. For me, if I focus on things I know how to do, like rebounding, the points will come."
Bard (4-5) jumped out to an 18-6 lead over Mount Holyoke (1-10) after one quarter, but the Lyons clawed back in the second quarter.
Trailing 23-8 with 6:02 to go in the half, Mount Holyoke scored 10 straight points, while holding Bard scoreless for nearly six minutes of game action. Junior Katie Rha (Douglaston, N.Y.) and senior Teal Howle (Florence, S.C.) sank 3-pointers at the 4:30 and 1:45 marks to cut the deficit into single digits, and White made four straight free throws to close within five (23-18) with under a minute to go. A pull-up jumper by Shirley Dong with six seconds to go in the half bumped Bard's lead up to seven (25-18) at intermission.
The Raptors made a pair of jumpers in the opening minute of the third quarter to return their lead to double digits. Mount Holyoke went cold offensively, limited in the quarter to two buckets in the paint by White and two free throws by sophomore Libby Harris (Foxborough, Mass.), while Bard built its lead up to 40-24 on a 3-pointer by Jessica Martin with 30 seconds left in the third.
Howle made a jump shot to open the scoring in the fourth quarter, but Martin answered for Bard with another three for a 43-26 Raptors lead with 7:28 left. Then the Lyons mounted a second comeback run.
Mount Holyoke made defensive stops on 12 of Bard's final 13 offensive possessions, with the lone exception being a layup by Aislynn Dixon with 2:49 to go, which extended Bard's lead to 45-28. Goff converted an offensive putback with 2:28 to go, then rebounded a Bard miss at the other end. A jumper by Howle connected, assisted by sophomore Kendall Maurer (Orinda, Calif.). Maurer followed with a steal, and a layup by Goff with 1:48 to go made it 45-34. Mount Holyoke continued to make defensive stops, but missed on three straight possessions of its own before a steal and a layup by Maurer cut the gap to nine with five seconds left.
"When we play off each other's strengths, we can be really successful, and I think that's what we did today even though we didn't get the win out of it," said White. "If we all continue to work hard and together, I have no doubt we will get more tangible results."
Mount Holyoke was held to 25% shooting from the field (14-56), but outrebounded Bard by a 47-37 margin.
Howle finished with nine points and Maurer added four points, five rebounds and three steals off the bench for the Lyons. First-year Emma Goff (Cohasset, Mass.) pitched in with four points, six rebounds, two steals and a team-high three assists.
Mount Holyoke will host SUNY Cobleskill on Thursday at 6pm in Mildred S. Howard Gymnasium.
