Box Score PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team made a late rush against #7/8 FDU-Florham in Freedom Conference play on Thursday night before falling by a final score of 67-52 inside Kennedy Gym.
 
Manhattanville (8-12, 3-6 Freedom) had hopes of spoiling the Devils perfect record, but #7/8 FDU-Florham (20-0, 9-0 Freedom) came out strong, jumping out early against the Valiants and never looking back.
 
The Valiants were led by freshman Candice Scott-Mason (Trenton, N.J./Ewing), tallying a team-high 12 points. Juniors Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) and Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) each scored 11 points, while Caiazzo also grabbed 16 rebounds in the contest.
 
For the Devils, Rachel Groom paved the way by scoring a game-high 16 points to go with eight rebounds. Delisha Thompson and Kyra Dayon contributed 12 and 10 for FDU-Florham, respectively.  The difference in the game for FDU-Florham was the stellar play of its bench by contributing 28 points in the contest while the Valiants' bench only scored two points.
 
FDU-Florham scored the first nine points of the game before Caiazzo put home a layup for Manhattanville at the 16:30 mark, making it 9-2. The Devils continued to get good looks at the basket, mostly with the help of their depth. Thompson was a major spark for the Devils, scoring eight straight points on four straight possessions, giving FDU-Florham a 22-8 lead with 10:55 left in the first.
 
Manhattanville struggled to get much going offensively in the first half, trailing the Devils by 15 points headed into halftime, 39-24.
 
FDU-Florham started off the second half just as strong as they started the first by rattling off nine straight points again, jumping out to a 24-point lead with 17:01 left, 48-24. The Devils led by as many as 27 points in the second half before Manhattanville started to pour on a comeback a bit too late.
 
After a made layup by Thompson with 9:03 left, the Devils led by 24, 59-35. Manhattanville went on a 13-2 run right after the Thompson layup, pulling the game within 12 at 61-49 when sophomore Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) connected on a layup with 2:54 left. Manhattanville started to look real good in the late minutes, but the clock became an issue for the Valiants, as Manhattanville fell by a final of 67-52.
 
Manhattanville struggled to put the ball in the basket, shooting 30.5 percent (18-59), while FDU-Florham was not that much better, finishing 31 percent (22-71) from the floor.
 
The Valiants will travel to take on Wilkes on Saturday in a pivotal Freedom Conference matchup, tipping off at 1:00 p.m. Live stats and live video can be found on GoValiants.com.