EMMITSBURG, MD. --- EMMITSBURG, MD. --- Freshman Jeydah Johnson's three-pointer with 14 seconds remaining gave the LIU Brooklyn women's basketball team a 61-59 victory over the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers Saturday afternoon at Knott Arena.

Johnson, playing for the first time after missing four games due to injury, tallied a game-high 20 points off the bench, including the go-ahead basket that helped LIU (9-12, 5-5 NEC) tie its highest win total under third-year head coach Stephanie Del Preore (nine wins in 2015-16).

After leading for much of the second half, the Blackbirds found themselves down 59-58 with less than 40 seconds left in the game. After Mount St. Mary's (7-14, 4-6 NEC) converted on the first of two free throws and scored after controlling the ensuing rebound, senior DeAngelique Waithe missed a pair of close shots and the team called timeout with 23 seconds left to draw up a play.

Redshirt junior Drew Winter eventually ended up with the ball and directed the action as the play developed, setting up an open Johnson to nail the last of her four three pointers to give LIU the lead.

The Mountaineers would take a timeout of their own with 12 seconds to go to set up their options but Mount St. Mary's guard Juliette Lawless, who hit the Mount's go-ahead shot with 37 seconds remaining, was forced into a miss by graduate transfer Denisha Petty-Evans as the Blackbirds sealed the victory.

Johnson finished the night shooting 8-for-15 from the field and 4-for-7 from deep, surpassing the 20-point plateau for the third time this season and first since her season-best 27-point performance at George Mason on December 4. Waithe contributed 15 points for her ninth double-digit scoring outing in the last ten games.

Adding to the victory was a career performance from senior Stylz Sanders, who logged her first-ever double-double with a season-best 11 points and a career-high ten rebounds.

OTHER NOTES

• Sanders' scoring effort marked the first time she scored ten or more points in a game since she netted 11 against Central Connecticut on February 15, 2016.
• LIU improved to 4-0 on the season when it either matches the rebound total of its opponent or exceeds it. The Blackbirds outrebounded the Mountaineers on Saturday, 42-37.
• Sophomore Seneca Richards had three steals against the Mount on Saturday, besting her previous career high of two from LIU's game vs. Wagner on January 23, 2017.
• The Blackbirds bounced back from a losing first quarter (15-11 MSM) to outscore the Mountaineers 20-12 in the second and take a 31-27 lead into the second half, where they lead until the tense final moments.

NEXT UP
LIU will face off against Wagner on Monday, February 5 at 7 p.m. in Staten Island.