CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Senior Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) became the 14th player in Manhattanville College women's basketball history to reach 1,000 points for a career, but it was not enough as the Valiants dropped their first MAC Freedom matchup of the year to DeSales University by the score of 70-57 on Wednesday night at Billera Hall.

Entering the game needing 15 points to reach the century mark, the senior netted a team-high 17 points to reach quadruple figures for her career. A three-pointer with 3:57 to go in the third quarter brought her to 999 career points, and appropriately enough she broke through with another three, coming with 2:16 on the clock in the fourth to become the newest member of the 1,000-point club and the fifth Valiant to do so in the last six years. Her career 13.2 points per game scoring average currently ranks fifth in program history, while also sitting third all-time with 120 career three-pointers.
 
Despite shooting 40 percent from the field, the Valiants (4-2 overall, 0-1 MAC Freedom) were unable to overcome the Bulldogs (3-2 overall, 1-0 MAC Freedom) solid night from the free-throw line.  Manhattanville was able to make more field goals than DeSales, but the Bulldogs drained 27 of 34 attempts from the charity stripe to take down the Valiants.
 
Manhattanville got out to a good start in the first quarter, outscoring the Bulldogs 15-12 , with six different Valiant players scoring in the period.  The Bulldogs were able to respond in the second quarter however, outscoring the Valiants 9-2 over the final 3:18 of the half, as Manhattanville went into the halftime break trailing 33-28. 
 
Manhattanville struggled to get going in the second half as DeSales continued their scoring run at the start of the third period, extending their lead to 11 before junior Candice Scott-Mason (Trenton, N.J./Ewing) was able to hit a jumper to stop the run.  The  Valiants chipped away at the Bulldog lead, cutting the deficit to seven with just over two minutes remaining in the third, but once again DeSales was able to answer and extend the lead back to double-digits.
 
The Valiants cut the lead to eight early in the fourth quarter, but a 7-0 run by DeSales in the middle of the final period extended the lead to 16 with four minutes to play.  Manhattanville would answer with a seven-point run of their own over a thirty second stretch late in the quarter but were unable to overcome the deficit as they fell to DeSales by a 70-57 final in the first conference matchup of the year. 
 
Pabon had a breakout game for the Valiants, shooting 5-9 from beyond the arc after starting the year shooting just 20 percent from three-point territory. The five three's helped to lead the senior to a team-high 17 points on the night.  Freshman Kayleah McGuire (Somers, N.Y./Somers) was once again impressive off the bench for Manhattanville, netting 12 points and bringing in seven rebounds in 27 minutes of action. 
 
Manhattanville will play host to MAC Freedom foe Wilkes University Saturday at Kennedy Gymnasium as they look to rebound from the loss.  Tip-off for that matchup is scheduled for 1:00 P.M.