SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- The Mount Holyoke College basketball team led for nearly the entire game and set a team record for 3-pointers, defeating Bard College 62-55 in the Lyons' first home win since the 2018-19 season.
First-year Kendall Maurer (Orinda, Calif.) scored a season-high 21 points from off the bench, including 5-for-12 shooting from behind the arc. Mount Holyoke (2-13) made 12 3-pointers on 34 attempts (.353), breaking the former program record of 11 3-pointers set against Westfield State in 2014.
Sophomore Cal McGonagle (Yarmouth, Maine) made 3-8 shots from three en route to 14 points, while first-year Libby Harris (Foxborough, Mass.) shot 4-5 behind the arc on the way to 13 points to go with a team-high five assists.
"The team has been working really hard at practice to trust each other in order to share the ball and play to the potential we know we have," said Maurer. "It's nice to see the process shown in the product."
Thalia Grandinetti led Bard (1-9) with 21 points and nine rebounds, with Shirley Dong adding 11 points, eight assists and five rebounds. Mae Redmond also scored 11.
Redmond hit a jump shot to open the scoring and give the visiting Raptors their only lead of the game at 2-0. McGonagle answered with a 3-pointer 13 seconds later as the Lyons took the lead over for good. McGonagle then assisted on layups by first-years Alex Twomey (Nutley, N.J.) and Taryn White (Alexandria, Va.), then drilled a second three to give Mount Holyoke a 10-2 lead, prompting Bard's first timeout.
Maurer and Harris followed with threes of their own as Mount Holyoke took a 24-15 lead after one quarter. Grandinetti scored eight ponts and Dong added five in the period to keep Bard in the game.
The Lyons expanded their lead to as many as 14 points in the second quarter and led 39-29 at the half. The Raptors, with only eight players suited up in the game, could draw no closer than within five points, at 47-42 at the 1:52 mark of the third quarter, the rest of the way.
Mount Holyoke again took a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter at 58-44. A layup by Dinkins in the final minute closed the gap to seven points, but Mount Holyoke's lead was never threatened.
Mount Holyoke will play conference games against NEWMAC opponents the rest of the way, beginning Saturday at 2pm at home against Emerson.
Bard will host William Smith in a Liberty League game Friday at 5:30pm.
