Scranton, PA – Mount Aloysius College had five players reach double-figures on Saturday to overcome a game-high 23 points from Keystone College's AAliya Hayes (New Rochelle, NY/New Rochelle) to defeat the Giants 87-80 in the opening round of the Sleep Inn Holiday Classic hosted by Marywood University.  The Mounties improve to 5-3 on the season while snapping Keystone's three-game winning streak as the Giants fall to 5-5 overall.     
 
Keystone raced out to an 11-2 lead over the first 2:45 of Saturday's contest before Mount Aloysius countered with a 20-7 burst to claim a 22-18 advantage midway through the period.  The Giants went back to the point, 28-26, with 5:47 remaining in the half on a three-point play from Hayes, but the Mounties went back in front with a three-pointer at the 4:34 and stretched their advantage to eight points, 43-35, at halftime.
 
Alexis Servello led Mount Aloysius with 11 points in the opening 20 minutes of play while Haley Bender chipped in eight points for the Mounties, who shot 48.6 percent from the floor in the first half while going 4-7 from three-point range.
 
Hayes led all scorers with 13 points in the opening stanza for Keystone while Cierra Hensley (Frederick, MD/Frederick) netted eight points and Alyssa Cuomo (Odessa, DE/Hodgson Vo-tech) tallied seven points in the period.  As a team, the Giants connected on 41.2 percent of their field goal attempts while going just 1-6 from downtown and 6-10 from the free throw line.
 
Mount Aloysius extended their lead to 52-43 4:27 into the second half, but Keystone battled to stay in the contest and, trailing 61-55 with 11:41 left on the clock, Ashley Evans (Wooster, OH/Wooster) connected from beyond the arc and Jerica Rode (Lords Valley, PA/Wallenpaupack) followed with a fast break layup to cut the Giants' deficit to one point.  The Mounties pushed their lead back to six points midway through the half, but Keystone used a 9-0 run to claim a 69-66 lead with just over eight minutes left in regulation. 
 
Mount Aloysius answered with three-straight field goals to claim a three-point lead before Samantha Donahue (Taylor, PA/Riverside) made it a one-point game on a layup with 5:44 remaining.  The Mounties led by as many as six points before Keystone narrowed their deficit to 83-80 with 31 seconds left on a lay-in by Rode, but Mount Aloysius scored the final four points of the game to seal the victory.
 
Servello led five players for the Mounties in double-figures with 15 points to go along with a team-best six assists while Bender finished the evening with 14 points.  Abbie Zinobile and Kaleigh Roop had 13 points apiece with Roop leading all players with nine rebounds for the contest.  Abby Kulick chipped in 11 points for Mount Aloysius, who finished the game shooting 51.4 percent from the field, 53.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 61.5 percent from the charity stripe while holding a 54-35 advantage in rebounds for the game.
 
Making her season-debut for the Giants, Hayes went 8-17 from the field and 7-10 from the free throw line to lead all players with 23 points to go along with six rebounds and three steals.  Rode finished the contest with 16 points, a team-best eight rebounds, and a game-high five steals while Hensley tallied 13 points in the loss.  Cuomo was the fourth Keystone player in double-figures with 12 points while Evans tied for a game-high with six helpers for the Giants, who connected on 40.5 percent of their field goal attempts for the game including a 27.8 percent effort from three-point range and a 60.0 percent performance at the free throw line.
 
Chelsey Hropovich (Seward, PA/Ligonier Valley) blocked a game-high three shots for the Giants, who forced the Mounties into 26 turnovers while giving the ball away just 14 times in the setback.
 
Keystone will close out this weekend's tournament on Sunday afternoon when they take on King's College at 2:00 p.m. at Marywood's Insalaco Arena.  The Monarchs enter Sunday's tilt against the Giants with a 3-6 record after falling to the host Pacers in Saturday's opener, 72-55.