PURCHASE, N.Y.- Senior Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) tallied 13 points to go with eight rebounds in her home finale against #25 Eastern University on Saturday afternoon, but the Manhattanville women's basketball team was unable to take down the Eagles, falling by a final score of 84-63 in Freedom Conference play.
 
Manhattanville (10-13, 1-11 Freedom) struggled to slow down the Eastern (19-4, 11-1 Freedom) bench, allowing 28 points to the Eagle reserves. Senior Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) led the way offensively for the Valiants, finishing with a team-high 21 points while dishing out seven assists.
 
For the Eagles, Meghan Nowak was the ultimate difference in the contest, finishing with a game-high 29 points and 17 rebounds in 29 minutes of work. Three other Eagles finished in double-figures, including 13 points from Kaitlyn Dougherty off the bench. Eastern made due off Manhattanville turnovers, scoring 26 points from 24 Valiant turnovers.
 
The Valiants jumped out of the gate early, taking a 6-2 lead at the 17:27 mark after a jumper from junior Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career). Both teams exchanged leads for the next 10 minutes of the first half until the Eagles started to pull away. After a made free throw from Caiazzo, the Valiants trailed Eastern 25-22 with 6:51 left in the first half. The Eagles utilized a 15-4 run over a span of four minutes to give them a 40-26 lead with only 2:17 remaining in the half. Despite a buzzer-beating layup by sophomore Jazmin Pryce (Patterson, N.Y./Brewster) to end the first half, the Valiants went into the locker room trailing Eastern by 13, 46-33.
 
The potent offense of the Eagles only picked up in the second half, as Eastern continued to get solid looks at the basket. An 11-point deficit at the 18:07 mark is the closest the Valiants would get for the remainder of the contest. With the stellar play of Nowak, the Eagles jumped out on a 16-6 run, taking a 69-45 with just under 11 minutes to play. The Valiants trailed by as many as 28 points before falling by a final score 84-63.
 
Caiazzo and the Valiants will travel to DeSales for their next game on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. The senior has two more games to close in on Theresa Carey in hopes of becoming the all-time rebounds leader at Manhattanville. Both live video and live stats can be accessed via GoValiants.com.