NEW YORK – The Yeshiva University women's basketball team dropped its Skyline Conference contest to the defending league champion Mount Saint Mary College Knights, 86-59, at ARC Arena on Tuesday evening.

Yeshiva (1-4, 1-3 Skyline) got off to a good start by taking an 18-16 lead with 1:08 left in the first quarter and trailed by only one after 10 minutes of play. However, Mount Saint Mary (4-2, 2-0 Skyline) outscored YU, 26-5, in the second quarter to take a commanding lead it would not surrender.

Leading the way for the Maccabees was junior Shai Rahamim who had game-highs of 22 points and seven assists. Senior Yuval Nitzan had a productive game with 19 points, nine rebounds, three assists, and just as many steals. Classmate Daniella Rothman led all players with 12 rebounds, while netting four points. Senior Gabrielle Kupferman tallied nine points and five boards.

In the opening quarter, Kupferman nailed a pair of free throws to give YU a 15-14 edge with 1:38 remaining. After the Knights went ahead by one, Nitzan found Rahamim who buried a 3-point shot to give the Macs an 18-16 advantage with 1:08 left to play. With 54 ticks left on the clock, graduate student Katie Smith of Mount Saint Mary executed a layup, while being fouled. She added the free throw to complete the traditional three-point play to put the Knights in the lead for good, 19-18, and that would be the score after 10 minutes of play.

In the early stages of the second quarter, Nitzan buried a jumper to shrink YU's deficit to 22-20. The Knights turned the tide by scoring 16 unanswered points to take a commanding 38-20 hold with 4:29 left to play in the half. The Maccabees could not get back into the game from that point and the Knights went on to earn the league victory.

For YU, freshman Jasmin Maly-Danker had five points, two rebounds, and a block. Rookie Mia Denti brought down a pair of boards. First-year player Abigail Koenig tallied two steals and a rebound.

For Mount Saint Mary, junior Charlotte Twohig and rookie Kaeli McAnally each scored 11 points with the latter bringing down seven rebounds, forcing five steals, and dishing out three assists.

Yeshiva will take on Manhattanville College, in a Skyline Conference matchup at Kennedy Gymnasium, on Thursday evening. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m.