Box Score MADISON, N.J. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team became the first Freedom Conference squad to take a lead into halftime against No. 25 FDU-Florham on Wednesday evening, but the Valiants were unable to hold onto the lead as the Devils came away with the 65-60 win at the Ferguson Athletic Center.
 
Sophomore Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington), who finished the game with 17 points, led Manhattanville offensively, while classmate Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) pulled down 21 boards and 16 points in the losing effort. Freshman Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) tied a career-high with 14 points in a career-best 38 minutes on the evening.
 
FDU-Florham jumped out to an early five-point lead, but the Valiants came back with three straight baskets as senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), Raaf and Caiazzo sank baskets to put Manhattanville up 8-7 with 14:52 to go in the opening half.
 
The lead see-sawed back and forth between three points for each side until there was 6:36 left in the half as freshman Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) put a layup in to put the Valiants up by four. Manhattanville took a five-point lead four times down the stretch of the half including as the buzzer sounded to take a 31-26 lead into the break.
 
For FDU-Florham it was only the third time this season, and the first time in nine league games, that the Devils trailed at the break. The only other times were in the team's lone loss this season to Lebanon Valley in November, and against Moravian in early January - both nationally ranked opponents.
 
The Devils came out strong in the second half as well when they began on a 5-0 run to tie the game at 18:50 left in the second half. Sophomore Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) broke the run and gave Manhattanville the lead back but FDU-Florham rattled off six more points to open up a four-point edge.
 
Manhattanville was able to get the lead back down to one, but the lead ballooned up to seven points with just under nine minutes remaining; yet, Pabon put in four straight points as she tried to will her team back into the game. FDU-Florham responded with a 7-1 run and took its largest lead of the game at nine points.
 
Raaf sank a layup with 29 seconds left in regulation, but the foul game came into play and both teams hit a pair of free throws through the remainder of the contest as FDU-Florham held on for the 65-60 conference victory.
 
As a team Manhattanville shot 41.8% from the floor, but that average dropped after an 8-of-25 second half. Meanwhile the Devils improved their shooting by 15% from the first to second half as the team finished the game with 35.8% shooting from the field. Rebounds were fairly close, as the difference in the game was turnovers as the Valiants gave away the ball 19 times with points off of turnovers 16-12 in favor of FDU-Florham.
 
Manhattanville (9-10, 2-7 Freedom) will return home this Saturday to take on the Wilkes Colonels with tipoff scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The team will be hosting it's annual Think Pink Contest, as well as hosting Alumni Day festivities earlier in the day. Once the game tips, coverage will be available on GoValiants.TV.