Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team dropped its 2013 conference opener to the FDU-Florham Devils by a score of 84-64 on Wednesday evening from Kennedy Gym. The Valiants were led by senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), who finished the game with 17 points, followed by sophomore Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) with 15 and classmate Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) with 10.
 
The game started out with Manhattanville taking an early 6-0 lead, as Pabon led the charge with three of the team's six points. At the 13:40 mark of the first half, Wilson hit a three-pointer to put the Valiants up by a nine-point margin at 13-4.
 
But FDU-Florham charged back over the next several minutes and evened up the contest at 17 with 6:02 remaining in the opening stanza. The Devils continued their run through the latter stages of the period and took a six-point lead into the halftime break.
 
The Valiants fell behind by 10 on several occasions in the early going of the second half, then the Devils jumped out to an 11-point lead after a three-pointer by Kara Dayon at the 16:26 point of the period moved her team up to a 46-35 advantage.

Manhattanville pulled to within six after Wilson and Pabon spearheaded a 5-0 run. FDU-Florham ballooned its lead back up to 10, but again the Valiants pulled to within five as sophomore Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) sunk a layup with 10:56 to go. Wilson then hit another three-point basket and brought Manhattanville back within two at 54-52 with 9:52 left in the contest.
 
The Devil lead see-sawed back and forth between two and six, but FDU-Florham finished the game with a 20-3 run over the final 5:43 to pull away with the win.
 
As a team Manhattanville shot 38.7% from the field, while FDU-Florham was able to hit 39.7% of its shots. Three-point baskets were also close as both teams sank three apiece, with the biggest difference of the game coming from the free throw line: Manhattanville went 14-of-25 to FDU-Florham's 22-of-32.
 
Manhattanville (7-6, 0-3 Freedom) will resume conference play on Saturday when it travels to Wilkes to take on the Colonels for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off. FDU-Florham (13-1, 3-0 Freedom) will also play on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when it travels to Dallas, Pa. to take on Misericordia Cougars.