Boxscore

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Fouls, rebounding and a late second-half lead change dealt the Manhattanville women's basketball team their first conference defeat of the season as they fell to King's (Pa.) College, 60-54, in a Freedom Conference battle on Saturday afternoon at Scandlon Gym.  

Senior Simona Gordon (Cambridge, Mass.) broke out of her scoring funk and led the team with 19 points on 6-of-15 from the field and 5-of-8 from the line. The Valiants got another double-digit performance by sophomore Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) (13 points) and junior Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y.) (11 points). Junior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn.) led the team on the boards with eight rebounds and five points.

For King's, Cecelia Rader led her team with 19 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the field, 4-of-8 from behind the arc and 3-of-6 from the line. Two other Lady Monarchs also finished in double figures as Lindsay Atchison finished with a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds and Kaitlin Michaels finished with 13 points.

Both squads traded baskets for the first few minutes of the game until the Valiants went on a 6-0 run and took a 13-8 lead with 12:28 remaining in the half on a jumper by Wilson. Rader cut the deficit to a single possession after hitting a three-pointer making it a 13-11 lead for the visiting team. Manhattanville opened up the lead to 12 after going on a 10-0 run that spanned 1:28 with trifectas by Wilson and sophomore Janetta Arnold (Windsor, Conn.). Jumpers were made by junior Stephanie Vaiano (South Ozone Park, N.Y.) and Turner to take a 23-11 lead with 9:50 left.

King's responded with a 6-0 run also and cut the deficit to 23-17 as the Valiants went on a 5:07 scoring drought. Turned ended the drought with a jumper and converted on the three-point play with a free throw to push the lead back to nine points. King's finished the half with a 6-2 run on four made free throws. The Valiants led by seven at the half, 30-23, with Wilson leading the Valiants with nine points.

The Monarchs came out to begin the second half with a three-pointer by Muscatell. The Monarchs made it a one-point game (32-31) after a lay-up by Atchinson, but Gordon responded on the next possession with a long-distance three to regain the four-point lead. The Valiants pushed their lead back to nine after the Gordon three-pointer jump-started another run for the Valiants with Wilson scoring back-to-back baskets. 

After a missed shot by Wilson, a put back by Hyjek gave the Valiants a seven-point lead with 9:45 remaining. The Monarch's tied the contest with a 6-0 run with free throws made by Atchinson and a pair by Molly Dahl, followed by a three-pointer from Rader to tie the game at 47 with 5:03 remaining. King's continued their run, moving it to eight and taking their first lead of the afternoon with two more free throws by Dahl. Late in the contest Rader connected on her third trifecta of the half and gave the host a four-point lead (54-50) with 2:42 remaining in the contest. Gordon cut their disadvantage to a single basket after driving the wide-open lane, but good free throw shooting (6-7) by the Lady Monarchs held the lead to the buzzer.  

King's nearly doubled their rebounding total in the second half as the Valiants struggled on the glass and were out rebounded 50-48 in the contest after holding a 24-18 edge in the first half. However, the Valiants finished the game slightly better from the field and shot 29 percent, while the Lady Monarchs shot 28 percent. Free throws were the key to the contest, especially late in the game as the Monarchs outscored the Valiants 22-10 from the charity stripe.

Manhattanville (3-4, 1-1 Freedom) will return back to Kennedy Gym for a non-conference meeting with New York University on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. Fans can view the game live on GoValiants.TV with live stats on GoValiants.com beginning at 6:45 p.m. King's (Pa.) (4-3, 2-0 Freedom) will host Rutgers-Camden on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.