Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team defeated the New Jersey City Gothic Knights on Thursday evening by the score of 60-40. The Valiants were led by junior
Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) with 17 points on the evening.
Manhattanville opened the game on a 7-0 run with five of the points coming from Wilson. New Jersey City finally broke the streak with a pair of free throws hit at 16:35. The Valiants went on another run and opened up an 11 point lead on a layup by senior Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) at 13:29.
The Gothic Knights got the lead back down to five but freshman KellyAnn Sullivan (Amity Harbor, N.Y./Copiague) hit a three-pointer to regain an eight point edge at 7:30. The Valiants closed out the first half on a 7-0 run and took the 33-17 lead into the halftime break.
After the intermission Manhattanville continued to dominate in the paint and took a 23 point lead after a Turner layup in the paint with 16:24 to go. The Valiants took their largest lead of the game at 26 points on a pair of free throws by sophomore Beranda Felder (Brooklyn, N.Y./Midwood).
New Jersey City could only get the lead back to 16 on two occasions for the remainder of the game. The Valiants closed out the game on a 4-0 run with baskets by freshmen Nicole Robinson (Greenburgh, N.Y./The Ursuline School) and Leah Dagen (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) with two seconds remaining and Manhattanville came away with a 60-40 victory.
Leading the way for the Valiants was Wilson who had 17 while also leading the team in steals with four. Turner finished the game with nine points while senior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) added eight of her own. On the glass, Manhattanville was led by freshman Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) who had 10, including eight defensively, senior Stephanie Vaiano (South Ozone Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) was second in rebounds with five.
As a team the Valiants shot 43.4% for the game while New Jersey City went 23% from the field. Manhattanville also went 3-of-14 from beyond the arc while the Gothic Knights went 1-of-8. The Valiants had a season-high with 20 steals as well during the game as New Jersey City turned the ball over 31 times.
Manhattanville (4-7, 0-2 Freedom) will be back in action when the calendar turns to 2012 when they cross the street to take on Purchase College on January 4 at 6:00 p.m. New Jersey City (3-6, 0-1 NJAC) will also be back in action next year when they take on Ramapo in Mahwah, New Jersey on January 4 at 5:30 p.m.
