Box Score BOSTON, MASS. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team lost its 2013-14 season opener on Saturday afternoon, falling by a 67-58 score to Elmira in game one of the 2013 Emerson Tip-Off Tournament.
 
Junior Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) and sophomore Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) led Manhattanville offensively with 14 points each.  Robinson shot 5-of-13 from the floor while Raaf was 5-of-10.
 
Elmira senior guard Jessica Zoltowski led all scorers in the game by tallying 25 points while grabbing nine boards for the Soaring Eagles. Classmates Maria Thannhauser and Liz Forrest were both in double figures as well for Elmira with 16 and 14, respectively.
 
Manhattanville started the season opener off strong by pouring it on early, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first three minutes of play. The Valiants led for most of the first half until Elmira took its first lead with about eight minutes remaining. Junior center Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) picked up three fouls in the first 10 minutes and was forced to watch the rest of the half from the bench, hurting the Valiants in the paint.
 
Despite having Caiazzo watch from the bench, the Valiants went into halftime only trailing by six points to the Soaring Eagles.
 
The Valiants kept the game close in the opening minutes of the second half by pulling within two points, trailing 38-36 with 17 minutes to go.  Caiazzo banked in a few layups inside the paint to keep the Valiants close, but the Soaring Eagles started to pull away due to costly turnovers and missed jump shots from Manhattanville.
 
Zoltowski took over the second half for Elmira by scoring 19 of her 25 points, including a layup with 14 minutes remaining to break the game open for the Soaring Eagles with a 48-38 lead.  Manhattanville second-year coach Kate Vlahakis elected to take a timeout after the Zoltowski layup, which would pay off for the Valiants who needed to settle down.
 
The Vlahakis timeout turned things around for Manhattanville. The Valiants played neck and neck with the Soaring Eagles and even pulled within a bucket after a layup by freshman Alyson Chase (Chaplin, Conn./Pomfret School) pulled the Valiants within three points at 57-54 deficit with 2:41 remaining; however, the Soaring Eagles went on a 9-2 run to spoil the Manhattanville comeback. Key free throws from Zoltowski gave Elmira the win in the season opener, as her team sunk 8 of 11 attempts from the line down the stretch to secure the win.
 
The Valiants shot 40 percent (22-55) from the floor while the Soaring Eagles shot 33.9 percent (20-59). Manhattanville outrebounded Elmira 26-21, with 12 of those boards coming from Caiazzo.
 
Manhattanville will return to action tomorrow, when the Valiants face off with Wentworth in the consolation round beginning at 1:00 p.m.