PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's basketball team rolled to a 31 point victory on Tuesday night, defeating Skyline Conference foe Farmingdale State, 68-37. The Valiants improve to 13-5 with the win and are now 9-4 in Skyline play with two straight wins.
It was a terrific defensive display by the Valiants, holding the Rams to a 27 percent success rate from the field. The 37 points is the second-fewest allowed by Manhattanville this season, as the Crimson and White held Sarah Lawrence to 35 back on Nov. 16. Layla Mendoza and Samantha Muller, both coming in to the contest averaging more than 20 points a game each, were held to just 22 points combined. With Manhattanville holding two explosive scorers in check and Kalena Ricketts having an early end to her night after fouling out after 16 minutes on the court, the Valiants were able to cruise to the win.
Faith Johnson-Desilvia (Riverhead, N.Y./Riverhead) continued her hot stretch with arguably her best game of the season. After reaching double figures in six of her last seven games to enter play, the senior guard fell just shy of a triple-double. Johnson-Desilvia scored 12 and collected 12 rebounds while dishing out a career-high eight assists. The Riverhead, N.Y. product now leads the Valiants with 12.6 points per game.
Ali Mikaele (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) led the Manhattanville scorers with 15 points, her most since putting up 15 on Dec. 11 against Gwynedd Mercy. The senior forward also had a career-high six steals to go along with her seven rebounds and a .500 shooting night.
Spencer Shore (Boca Raton, Fla./West Boca Raton) ended the night third in points for the Valiants, scoring 11 to get back to double figures for the first time in five games.
Claudia Valentin (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin School) collected eight rebounds, while
Kristen Scrobola (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas High School) pulled down five boards for a second straight contest.
The Rams were able to keep pace with the Valiants in the early going, erasing a pair of Valiant leads and going ahead 10-6 with 5:34 left in the first. That would be the biggest lead Farmingdale would hold all night, as the Valiants tied the game 11-11 on a Mikaele three pointer, starting an 11-2 run to close out the quarter that put the home team up 19-13.
Farmingdale would be held to less than 10 points in each of the remaining quarters, scoring just seven in the second after shooting just 15 percent. Manhattanville capitalized, putting together a 13-2 run over a five minute stretch to go up 32-18. The Rams sank a pair of free throws to end the half, but momentum was firmly on the side of the home team.
The Valiants outscored Farmingdale 36-17 over the final 20 minutes as the lead never dipped below eight. When the Rams were able to make the score 37-29 with 6:24 to go in the third, the Valiants scored 20 unanswered points in a run that stretched across two quarters to put an exclamation point on the dominant win.
Up Next
The Valiants hit the road on Saturday to take on USMMA at noon.
