Boxscore

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – Senior Simona Gordon (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin) led the Valiants with 21 points on the evening as the Manhattanville women's basketball team defeated Delaware Valley, 77-64, in Freedom Conference action on Tuesday evening at the James Works Gym.

With the victory, Manhattanville (16-8, 9-4 Freedom) moves into a four-way tie for first place with DeSales University, King's (Pa.) College and Misericordia University heading into the final day of the regular-season on Saturday. With a win on Saturday over Misericordia, the Valiants would clinch the top seed in the Freedom Conference Tournament based on the third level of tiebreaking procedure.

Junior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) finished with 17 points on the night, as the power forward battled inside the paint all game and finished with eight rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from the line. In the backcourt, senior Carey Hickey (Dobbs Ferry, N.Y./Dobbs Ferry) tied her career-high with 17 points on 6-of-13 from the field, including two shots from the outside, and added nine assists.  

The Valiants had a hard time in the first few minutes of the contest defending the paint, as Aggies forward Rochelle Teesdale scored eight of her 12 first-half points in the first 10 minutes of the contest and gave her squad a 20-16 lead with 9:51 remaining after nailing a jumper.  

The visiting Valiants battled back and took a 25-24 lead off a jumper by senior Kaitlin Degnan (Irvington, N.Y./Irvington) with 6:24 left.  Both squads traded baskets in the latter part of the half, with the Aggies cutting the deficit to a single point after a pair of free throws by guard Brittany Battinieri made it a 29-28 lead for the team in black. 

The Valiants grabbed a six-point lead off a 5-0 run after a three-pointer and jumper by Hickey and junior Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee).  The Valiants finished the half with an 8-0 run to take a 42-33 lead, with four points each from Hyjek and Gordon.

Gordon led all scorers with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. Hyjek helped out inside the paint with seven points on 3-of-4 from the field with four rebounds. The Valiants shot 38 percent from the field and made three shots from the outside, while connecting on 60 percent of shots from the line.  

Teesdale led her squad with 12 points on 6-of-7 from the field. Liz Hover had a half-high five rebounds as her squad shot 42 percent from the field, but the Aggies also missed all nine shots from outside the arc.  

Hyjek gave the Valiants a double-digit lead to begin the second half as she slashed to the hoop for her 11th point of the night to give the Valiants a 44-34 lead.  The Valiants jumped out to a 15-point (51-36) edge after a pair of points in the paint by sophomore Jennifer McSharar (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) and Hyjek with 16:04 left. 

The Aggies cut the deficit back to 10 points, 58-48, after a mini 5-0 run on an old-fashioned three-point play and a jumper by Battinieri with 10:33 left.  The Aggies continued to make a comeback with a 7-0 run as a three-pointer by Battinieri to cut the deficit at seven, and then a jumper by Emily Soper made it 60-55. Soper continued to help her team and drained a jumper to keep the deficit at five, 69-62 with just under four minutes remaining.

However, the Valiants never let Delaware Valley get within one possession and built their lead back up down the stretch.

The Valiants will honor their three graduating seniors prior to the start of Saturday's contest against Misericordia beginning at 1 p.m. Fans can catch the game live on GoValiants.TV with live stats on GoValiants.com, with the pre-game show and ceremonies at 12:45 p.m.