BOX SCORE Newburgh, NY - Hunter College women's basketball dropped its season opener on Tuesday night, falling to Mount Saint Mary College with a score of 59-43 in the Kaplan Center.

The Purple and Gold struck first in the game, jumping out to a 4-0 lead thanks to jumpers from Theresa Leung and Christine Patterson. The Hawks continued to roll as Patterson, Leung, Ashley Arias and Phoebe Valenton converted to give Hunter the 18-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Neither team would score in the first three minutes of the second quarter until the Knight's Kayla Cleare hit a shot in the paint. From there Patterson went to work for Hunter once again, scoring four-straight points as the Purple and Gold stayed in control.

Leading by seven points, Hunter began to give up points towards the end of the quarter as Mount Saint Mary went on a 6-2 run to trail by just three points at halftime. 

The Hawks gave up ten points to start the third quarter as the Knights took their first lead since the beginning of the game to make the score 34-32. Hunter tied it up off a jumper from Patterson but Mount Saint Mary closed the third by outscoring Hunter six to three for a 40-36 advantage.

Leung hit a two-pointer 40 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the lead to two, but the Knights matched that and then went on a 14-3 run to get their biggest lead of the game thus far. 

Jade Aponte then converted on two free throws for the Hawks, but the Knights finished up the game by scoring five straight points to get the 59-43 victory.

Patterson led the Purple and Gold with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Leung and Ashley Yu followed with eight points each. Hunter shot 28.3 percent (17-60) from the floor, while Mount Saint Mary shot 36.2 pecent (21-58).

The squad returns to action this weekend when they host the Hunter Tip Off tournament, beginning on Friday.