Boxscore

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – DeSales guard Lori Lidlow led all scorers with 26 points, including a pair of late free throws, as the DeSales Bulldogs defeated the Manhattanville women's basketball team, 66-62, on Thursday evening in a Freedom Conference game at Billera Hall.

Senior guard# Simona Gordon (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin)# led the Valiants with 20 points and was one rebound shy of completing the double-double, grabbing nine boards. The team continued to find help on the bench, as sophomore Janetta Arnold (Windsor, Conn./Suffield Academy) had 13 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the outside. Junior Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) finished with a double-double on 10 points and 11 rebounds, as the guard was a key reason to the Valiant comeback late in the first half.

DeSales led for a majority of the first half, owning multiple-possession leads from the start of the game as Lidlow hit a jumper and a three-pointer to give her team a 5-0 lead. The Valiants cut the run with a jumper by junior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) with 18:47 remaining. DeSales took an 11-point lead on free throws by Colleen Gavin but, trailing 19-8 after the free throws, the Valiants went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to a single possession at 19-17.  The visiting squad tied the game for the first time on a jumper by Arnold with 2:19 remaining. With time running out in the first half, Turner nailed a long-distance shot to give the Valiants a 26-25 lead at the half.

Gavin led all scorers with 10 points after 20 minutes as she dominated in the paint with eight rebounds. Turner and Gordon led the Valiants with six points each, but the Bulldogs shot 34 percent from the field.

Manhattanville led for just under 11 minutes of the second half, but struggled to get a large lead. Both teams traded baskets during the Valiant lead, with the Valiants holding their largest lead, 45-38, off a layup by Gordon with 11:23 remaining. The Bulldogs crawled back to take the lead on a 9-2 run culminating with a layup by Megan Gallagher to tie the game at 47-47 with 9:30 remaining. The Valiants kept the deficit low for the remainder of the game and trailed by just one point after a three-pointer by Gordon made it 58-57 with 1:50 left.

However, DeSales used critical free throws late in the game to pull away with the victory. Lidlow hit all four of her attempts from the line, including two with less than two seconds remaining to give her team the four-point victory.

DeSales finished the contest shooting 37 percent from the field and shot 18-of-26 from the line, while the Valiants shot 31 percent from the field and 37 percent from the outside.

For DeSales, Gavin finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds and was aided by Cherelle Simmons with eight points and eight rebounds.

Manhattanville (12-8, 5-4 Freedom) will return to Kennedy Gym this Saturday as they host Wilkes University at 1 p.m.