NEW YORK – The Manhattanville College women's basketball team is back on top after they took home an 80-66 win over John Jay college today, Nov. 26. The game was fairly tight until the Valiants broke away towards the end of the third quarter.
 
Manhattanville (3-1, 1-1 Skyline) started behind after junior Sarah Coutu (Cranston, R.I./Cranston East) fouled Bloodhound (2-4, 0-0) Katie Healy and she made both free throws. Coutu followed her foul up with a layup to make the score even. As the score was 11-6 in John Jay's favor freshman Madison Fields (Grantsville, Utah/Grantsville) made a layup to bump the score up by two. Fields ended the first with eight points. The Valiants defense notched three steals in the first as sophomore Ali Mikaele (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) had one and sophomore Faith Johnson-Desilvia (Riverhead, N.Y./Riverhead) stole two.
 
Manhattanville took the lead in the first and went into the second quarter ahead 18-15. Mikaele missed the first shot but junior Amanda Pemberton (Las Vegas, Nev./Liberty) got the offensive rebound and made a layup to start the quarter. The Bloodhounds couldn't respond to Pemberton and missed two layup opportunities. Freshman Cierra Simmons (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Poughkeepsie) got the rebound off one and pushed it to Mikaele who sank her jump shot. The Valiants secured more rebounds in the second over John Jay leading 16-11. Junior Spencer Shore (Boca Raton, Fla./West Boca Raton) grabbed four of the rebounds and five of Manhattanville's rebounds were offensive.
 
The Valiants were only ahead by six in the third as the score read 39-33 in the beginning. Coutu and Fields interchanged a shot and an assist to start the third. Coutu made a jumper that was assisted by Felds and then Fields counted a layup assisted by Coutu. After those plays Manhattanville lead 43-36. Mikaele made another jump shot around the seven-minute mark but then the Valiants went scoreless for four minutes. The Bloodhounds inched their way to a three-point deficit but then Johnson-Desilvia added a layup to the score.
 
The Valiants carried their lead into the fourth quarter and broke away from the Bloodhounds after a few back-to-back buckets from the squad. After John Jay started the quarter with a made layup and free throw Coutu made a layup then two jumpers before the Bloodhounds scored again. Mikaele ended the game leading the Valiants in points with 20, Fields followed with 15, then Johnson-Desilvia and Coutu had 13 and 12 respectively. Johnson-Desilvia also lead the team in steals and assists with three each. Shore tallied the most rebounds for the Valiants totaling eight.
 
The Crimson and White will return back to conference play on Dec. 3, as they host the United States Merchant Marine Academy. They will play USMMA at 7:00 p.m. in Purchase, N.Y. in Kennedy Gymnasium.