PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's basketball team kept on rolling on Wednesday night, improving to 7-0 on the year with an 82-43 victory over Merchant Marine. The Valiants are now 3-0 against Skyline Conference opponents and have outscored the opposition by an average of 39.9 points this season.
After setting a career-high with 20 points on Sunday against Cazenovia,
Spencer Shore (Boca Raton, Fla./West Boca Raton) replicated her effort with another 20-point outing to lead the Valiant offense. Shore was 6-for-16 from the field, hitting on four shots from beyond the arc, and going a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line. The Manhattanville guard was one of four Valiants to reach double figures in the win.
Ali Mikaele (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) matched her season high with 17 points scored, shooting 73 percent from the field. Faith Johnson-Desilivia reached double digits for a fourth straight game with 16, while
Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) scored 13 for her new personal best.
The Valiants outrebounded USMMA 40-35. Nine of the eleven Manhattanville players that stepped on the court ended the night with a board. Johnson-Desilvia led the team with eight rebounds, two coming off the offensive glass. Mikaele added six, while three other players—
Claudia Valentin (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin School),
Carmen Rosemond (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) and
Niyona Smith (Towson, MD/Concordia Prep)—ended the night with four rebounds each.
Manhattanville held the Mariners scoreless from beyond the arc, as Merchant Marine was 0-for-7 from deep. It was the second straight game the opposition was o-fer from deep. Manhattanville's opponents are shooting just .141 from beyond the arc, and are just 2-for-31 over the last three games.
The tone was set from the opening tip, as the Valiants ran out to a 10-0 lead through the opening three and a half minutes. After a timeout, the Mariners were able to collect themselves, cutting the lead down to five with a minute left in the quarter. Manhattanville would score the final four points of the frame, both courtesy of Mikaele layups, to give the home squad an 18-9 advantage through the opening ten minutes.
Shore would hit a layup three minutes into the second quarter that began an 11-point run for the Crimson and White, putting the Valiants up 33-13. The lead would never fall below 16 for the rest of the way.
Manhattanville outscored Merchant Marine 43-22 over the final 20 minutes. The Valiants shot 53 percent in the second half to close out the contest and keep USMMA at bay. Manhattanville kept the foot on the gas all the way home, scoring 10 of the final 11 points of the night in the fourth quarter to earn the 39-point victory and remain perfect on the season.
Up Next
The Valiants return to Kennedy Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon, hosting Purchase for the latest chapter of the Battle of Anderson Hill Road at 2 p.m.
