WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Senior Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) netted a career-high 26 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter to help the Valiants break a 35-35 tie and take down the Lady Colonels 62-47 in MAC Freedom play Saturday afternoon inside the Marts Center.
 
Deieso was outstanding all afternoon for Manahttanville, shooting 62 percent (8-for-13) from the field and 10-for-11 from the free-throw line to net the new career-high. Senior Jazmin Pryce (Patterson, N.Y./Brewster) and freshman Nancy Caballero (Henderson, Nev./Liberty) combined for 19 rebounds and junior Kelsey Decker (Sidney, N.Y./Sidney) matched her career-high with another nine-point output for the Valiants.
 
It was a low scoring affair for both teams in the first half. Senior Sarah Kelley (Ewing, N.J./Ewing) got the scoring started with a layup 23 seconds into the contest to ignite a 14-point output in the opening frame for Manhattanville. After trading buckets to make it 4-4, both teams went nearly four minutes without a point before sophomore Kayleah McGuire (Somers, N.Y./Somers) hit two free-throws to start off a 10-2 run by the Valiants over the final four and a half minutes in the quarter. A late free-throw by Wilkes made it 14-8 in favor of the Valiants at the end of the opening stanza.
 
The Valiants pushed their lead to eight points, their largest lead of the first half with a jumper by Deieso at the 6:03 mark of the second quarter, but Manhattanville fell victim to a cold streak while Wilkes found the shooting touch late, cutting the deficit to just three points at the halftime break, finishing the half on 4-of-8 shooting while the Valiants went just 2-of-7 from the floor. 
 
Wilkes continued their hot shooting to begin the second half, going a perfect 3-for-3 to begin play. The three buckets created a 7-0 start and capped off a 12-0 run by the Lady Colonels to give them their first lead since the 4:30 mark of the opening quarter. Manhattanville fought back as they have so many times this year, using a 9-2 run of their own over the next five minutes of action to retake the lead 33-30 with 1:44 to play in the third quarter. The teams once again traded buckets to close out the quarter and the conference foes began the final quarter tied 35-35.
 
It was all Manhattanville in the final quarter however.  The Valiants put the Lady Colonels out of reach with a 12-0 run over a three-minute span to take their largest lead of the day at 12 points. Deieso netted seven of her 16 fourth quarter points during the stretch to give Manhattanville a 50-38 lead with 5:32 to play.  The senior capped off the day by going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line down the stretch to help the Valiants put 27 points on the scoreboard in the final stanza and take down Wilkes 62-47.
 
The crimson and black pick up their third win in MAC Freedom play with the victory, improving to 3-7 in conference action while the Lady Colonels fall to 0-10 in conference play.  Manhattanville returns to Kennedy Gymnasium Wednesday when they host the Aggies of Delaware Valley college at 6:00 pm.