NEWBURGH, N.Y. – A fourth-quarter Mount Saint Mary comeback spelled an end to the Manhattanville College women's basketball season. The Valiants were defeated by the Knights 63-57 on Thursday's Skyline Conference Championship semifinal matchup. With the loss, the Valiants officially end the season with a 19-8 overall record.
Manhattanville had three reach double figures in the contest, led by a 13 point effort by
Faith Johnson-Desilvia (Riverhead, N.Y./Riverhead). The Valiants' leading scorer this season, Johnson-Desilvia concludes her senior year with 326 points, reaching double-digits in 20 of the team's 27 games.
Spencer Shore (Boca Raton, Fla./West Boca Raton) ended the night with 11 points, sinking a pair of shots from beyond the arc. The program's all-time leading three point shooter ends her collegiate career with 195 shots made from deep.
Ali Mikaele (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) played 39 minutes and scored 10 of her own to wrap up the top scorers on the night.
The Valiants dominated the rebound game, collecting 48 caroms to Mount Saint Mary's 36. Mikaele came just shy of a double-double with nine boards off the defensive glass. Shore added seven, while
Kristen Scrobola (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas High School),
Claudia Valentin (Cambridge, Mass./Cambridge Rindge & Latin School) and
Niyona Smith (Towson, MD/Concordia Prep) each chipped in five. Scrobola and Smith both led the team with four offensive rebounds each.
The Knights shot 53 percent in the first quarter but despite the home team's sweltering start from the field, the Valiants matched the scoring pace. Scrobola and Valentin spotted the Valiants a quick 4-0 lead off a pair of shots in the paint to open up the game. Even with Mount Saint Mary's shooting success, the lead remaining with the Valiants until four minutes in, when Lauren Desrats hit a jumper and Morina Bojka sank a shot from deep to give the top-seeded Knights their first lead of the game. Manhattanville would reclaim the lead, but Bojka hit a free throw and then a jumper on the Knights' following possession to give Mount Saint Mary a 19-18 lead through the opening ten.
After Johnson-Desilvia put the Vals back on top with a jumper, the Knights' Erin Smith responded with a jump shot of her own, giving Mount Saint Mary a lead they would protect for most of the remaining time in the half. The Valiants struggled to the tune of a 25 percent success rate from the field in the quarter. Despite the cold spell, the Knight lead never grew above five. With 3:29 to go in the half, Shore connected on her first three pointer of the night. The shot swung momentum onto the other side of the court as the Valiants heated up, ending the stanza on a 9-0 run and giving the Valiants a 35-31 lead.
Manhattanville scored the first five points of the second half, capped off by another Shore deep ball to give the Valiants some breathing room. Mount Saint Mary showed why they were the No. 1 seed, continuing to claw their way back and make it a one possession game on three separate occasions. Katie Smith accounted for the last basket of the quarter, sinking a jumper with 1:11 left to make the score 49-46 in the Valiants' favor with the final ten to play.
The Knights opened up the fourth on a 7-2 run to pull back ahead. Johnson-Desilvia tied the score at 53-53 at the 6:20 mark, but Asia Rivera responded with a jumper of her own, kickstarting a 9-0 Knight run that sealed the deal. The Valiants scored four of the game's final five points, but they all came from the free throw line as Manhattanville was unable to find an opening from the field to get back into the game.
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