PURCHASE, N.Y.- Despite the Manhattanville women's basketball team only trailing by three points at halftime on Tuesday night, the Valiants were unable to slow down DeSales University in the second half, falling by a final score of 75-57 in Freedom Conference play.
 
Junior Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) and Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) led Manhattanville (10-14, 1-12 Freedom) offensively, finishing with 17 and 16 points, respectively. For DeSales (14-10, 8-5 Freedom), Morgan McCollian was the difference, finishing with a game-high 27 points to go with 10 rebounds inside the paint. Foul trouble hurt the Valiants down low, as both senior Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y./St. Saviour) and junior Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) finished with four fouls apiece, keeping them on the bench for long portions of the game.
 
The game was played evenly for majority of the first half as the Valiants took a 10-7 lead after a layup from Pabon at the 13:18 mark. The Bulldogs answered their three-point deficit quickly, going on an 8-0 run to take a 15-10 lead with 10:01 left in the first. Manhattanville then scored the next six points to take its lead back at 16-15, becoming the last time the Valiants would lead in the contest. Despite freshman Joiada Darnell (St. Albans, N.Y./Humanities and the Arts) beating the buzzer on a layup to end the first half, the Valiants trailed DeSales 33-30.
 
DeSales came out firing in the second half, jumping out on a 13-2 run, taking a 46-32 lead at the 17:39 mark. Mikelyn Mackavage knocked down two of her four three-pointers for the Bulldogs in the opening two minutes of the second half, helping DeSales pull away. For the remainder of the contest, the closest the Valiants could pull to the Bulldogs was a nine-point deficit with 14:53 left before falling by a final score of 75-57.
 
The Valiants will play their final game of the 2014-15 season on Saturday when they take on Misericordia at 1 p.m. in Freedom Conference play.