PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's basketball team continued their red-hot start to the year on Saturday with an 88-56 win over Saint Joseph's College-Long Island. The win makes the Valiants 5-0 to begin the season an 2-0 against Skyline Conference opponents.

Rookie Niyona Smith (Towson, MD/Concordia Prep) made her presence known with her best performance of her young collegiate career. Smith earned her second double-double of the season with 23 points and 20 rebounds, both season-highs. No other player on the Valiants reached double figures in rebounds, while Smith's eight offensive boards allowed Manhattanville to dominate on second chance opportunities. The rookie also had a team-high four blocks and went 7-for-8 from the charity stripe.

Smith was second on the team in scoring for the day, as Faith Johnson-Desilvia (Riverhead, N.Y./Riverhead) scored a season-high 26. It was the senior's second time eclipsing 20 points this year, as she scored 20 back in the season-opener against Fitchburg State. Ali Mikaele (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) rounded out the top scorers for the day with 13, her fourth double-digit output of the season.

With the score tied 5-5 in the first quarter, Manhattanville pieced together their first sustained run of the day, scoring nine straight to take claim to the lead they would hold for the remainder of the contest. The Golden Eagles would cut the lead down to four at the end of the quarter with an Alyssa Adomaties layup at the buzzer, but the Valiants opened up the second with an 8-0 run to pull ahead by double digits.

Manhattanville's lead would hover around 12 for the remainder of the half, but it was a 30-13 scoring advantage in the third quarter that firmly put the game away. The Valiants would use runs of 11 and eight points to pull ahead by 29 at the end of the third, a lead that would swell to as much as 37 in the fourth.

Up Next
The Valiants take their undefeated record to Farmingdale on Tuesday for a matchup against Skyline foe SUNY Old Westbury.

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