Mount St. Mary’s, Merrimack reflect on seasons of growth following MAAC semifinal losses

When the Mount is fired up, look at White. Everything the Mountaineers do on the court, he feels and expresses. When senior guard Jo Raflo spun around Marist junior center Morgan Lee to score and take the lead in the second quarter of their MAAC quarterfinal match-up against Marist, White exploded off the sideline, pumping his fist as the bench erupted behind him. Then, while they blew a 27-point lead during the same game, he stood firm on the sidelines with his arms crossed and lips pursed. 

He embodies the capricious nature of Mount basketball. 

“I’m a pretty intense guy,” White told reporters. “I do wear my emotions on my sleeves.”

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Now, the No. 4 Mountaineers find themselves out of the MAAC Tournament. They won an unstable game in the quarterfinals against Marist, and lost in nail-biting fashion to No. 1 Fairfield the next day. 

They were hot-and-cold against Marist, up by 27 at one moment in the third quarter, then only up by one with 40 seconds left to play. Their lead dissolved in just about 13 minutes. 

The Mount’s play has never been steady; they began the year with a six-game losing streak, but once Jan. 11 hit, they charged to seven wins in a row. The Mount closed out the MAAC regular season with four losses in six games.

When hot, Mount St. Mary’s rivals the best in the MAAC. It dominated No. 3 Siena in a 35-point win and beat No. 2 Quinnipiac in Hamden, Conn. They’re fueled by their three-point percentage — which leads the MAAC — largely provided by senior guard Jo Raflo, graduate guard Anna LeMaster and freshman guard Gabrielle Kennerly.

Their three ball shined Thursday afternoon against Marist, as the Mountaineers shot at a 41.4% mark. Raflo and LeMaster bombarded the net with seven combined threes, and the duo led Mount St. Mary’s with 18 and 14 points, respectively. 

Against Fairfield, they shot under that, with a 33.3% mark. It wasn’t good enough to topple the Stags, whose last-minute heroics from sophomore guard Kaety L’Amoreaux earned them the 49-48 win.

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The Mount joined the MAAC from the NEC in the 2022-23 season, and has improved every year. They started their MAAC career 12-19, then progressed to 14-17 and finished this year 15-16. Raflo has observed front-and-center the growth of the Mountaineers, and White’s growth as a coach. 

“In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve learned so much about myself as a player,” Raflo told reporters. “He’s done so much for me in my career, and I’m so incredibly grateful for that.”

Now, the Mount will have to wait and work in the offseason, knowing it was one point away from the MAAC championship game. It’s up to White to figure out what that one-point differentiator was, and how Mount St. Mary’s can return and start 2025-26 stronger.

However, he may have some ideas already.

“We just got to be better with our approach,” White said. “That way we don’t get off to slow starts … It’s been two years in a row that we’ve gotten off to slow starts, and I got no one to blame but myself for that, and I’ll fix that this offseason.”

An ‘uncommon’ Merrimack team

In Merrimack’s postgame press conference following its 65-51 loss to Quinnipiac Friday afternoon, head coach Kelly Morrone called her team “uncommon.”

No word could be closer to the truth for the Warriors. 

Being newcomers to the MAAC. Uncommon. Reaching the MAAC semifinals despite being picked 12th in the preseason coaches poll. Uncommon. Having a player average 13.5 points per game (in sophomore guard Thalia Sheppard) who wasn’t selected to an All-MAAC team? Uncommon.

“We’re putting the right pieces together for my style,” Morrone told reporters post-game.

Merrimack fought, but the Bobcats were just too much for them. The Warriors didn’t have an answer for Quinnipiac freshman guard Gal Raviv, who dropped 23 points on the day.

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But about its future, Merrimack’s answer is clear: it’s bright. All of its starters have at least one more year of eligibility left. The only departing player who played sizable minutes for the Warriors is senior guard Molly Manion. 

All of the returners will have that much more experience come time for next season. Sheppard has developed into one of the MAAC’s best guards, sophomore forward Madison Roman was a force in the paint all year and sophomore guard Paloma Garcia proved herself as another reliable scorer in the conference.

Merrimack has no reason to be disappointed in this season’s effort, but it has work to do come November.

“Understand what you accomplished,” Morrone said. “You need to be proud that Merrimack in the conversation [of MAAC contenders] is a big step.”