Box Score MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team resumed their 2011-12 conference schedule with their first matchup of 2012 and fell to FDU-Florham by the score of 62-45 on Wednesday evening. The Valiants were led by freshman
Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) who attained her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Valiants started the game off with a pair of quick layups by junior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) and senior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) to open up a 4-0 lead. The lead quickly disappeared as FDU-Florham hit six unanswered points to take their first lead of the night. The run continued for the Devils as they built a 14-6 lead with 12:37 remaining in the opening period.
Manhattanville battled back with back-to-back layups by senior guard Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) and Caiazzo to pull back within four. FDU-Florham continued to make their shots as Manhattanville pulled to within four on two more occasions in the half before allowing the Devils to finish on a 6-2 run and take a 30-22 lead into halftime.
In the second half the struggles continued for Manhattanville, after turning the ball over 14 times in the first half. The frame stared off with seven unanswered by FDU-Florham as they ballooned their lead up to 37-22 with 17:49 to go. The run was finally snapped with a Hyjek layup 27 seconds later.
After a three-pointer gave FDU-Florham a 17-point lead, the Valiants answered with a 7-0 run which included three from Wilson, two from Turner, and two more from freshman KellyAnn Sullivan (Amity Harbor, N.Y./Copiague) with 9:26 to go.
The Devils continued to capitalize off of the Manhattanville turnovers and worked their lead all the way up to 23 points with 2:22 remaining. Caiazzo hit the next five points to get the lead back down to 18, but FDU-Florham answered with a bucket to get the lead back to 20 with 61 seconds remaining. The lone basket in the last minute came from senior Stephanie Vaiano (South Ozone Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) who hit a three-pointer to get the Valiants their last points of the night as the team fell by a 62-45 margin.
The difference in the game was the turnover battle which was won handily by FDU-Florham, the Valiants finished the game with 30 giveaways to the Devils' 10. The points off of turnovers was also well in favor of the Devils as they had 30 points to the Valiants nine points off of turnovers.
Manhattanville won the battle of the boards by outrebounding FDU-Florham 48 -40, the Valiants were led by Wilson with 11 boards, while Caiazzo had 10 of her own. The shooting percentages were close in the game as Manhattanville shot 33.3% compared to FDU-Florham's 32.9% from the floor.
The Valiants (5-7, 0-3 Freedom) will be back in action this Saturday when they host conference foe Wilkes to Kennedy Gym at 1:00 p.m., live stats of the game will be available on GoValiants.com. FDU-Florham (7-7, 1-2 Freedom) will also be back in action on Saturday when they play host to Misericordia at 1:00 p.m.
