PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's basketball team has earned an automatic berth in the Skyline Conference Championship semifinals as the Valiants have claimed one of the conference's top two seeds with Saturday's 68-50 win at Saint Joseph's-Long Island. The Valiants conclude the regular season with an overall record of 20-3 and a conference record of 16-2.

Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) concluded her stellar rookie regular season with one of her top performances of the year as she led the offense with 22 points. It was the second time this season that Orlando had scored 20 points as she hit eight field goals while going 6-of-8 at the free throw line. She added four steals, six rebounds and a pair of assists to her docket.

Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) put up 15 as all four of her field goals on the day would come from beyond the arc. After setting the program's single-season three point record earlier this week, the junior will enter the postseason with 73 deep balls on the year. Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) collected her 13^th double-double of the season with a 10 point, 13 rebound effort along with a leading five assists. Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) rounded out the top offensive performers as she provided a career-high 11 points off the bench.

The Valiants outrebounded the Golden Eagles by ten, 44-34. While Kascic led the charge, all eight Valiants that stepped on the court ended the game with a board. Kristen Scrobola (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas High School) matched Orlando's total with six rebounds, while Tucker collected five in the contest.

In an evenly-matched first quarter, neither team would lead by more than six. It would be the Valiants holding the largest lead of the period as Agostino began the day with the team's first basket with a three pointer 38 seconds in. The visiting squad would claim the six point advantage with 6:52 remaining following back-to-back Orlando layups. Saint Joseph's responded with nine straight points, seven coming from Megan Spina, to grab their first lead of the game. The Golden Eagle lead maxed out at three with 3:03 remaining. A layup from Kascic and an Orlando free throw tied the game up at 16-16, but Alyssa Adomaites would strike in the final minute with a layup to put Saint Joseph's ahead 18-16 to begin the second quarter.

Manhattanville forced the Golden Eagles into foul trouble in the second as Saint Joseph's would be charged seven personals. The result was the Valiants going 10-for-12 at the line as they outscored the Golden Eagles 20-8 in the quarter. Agostino reclaimed the lead with another three to begin the second before Scrobola and Orlando combined for three free throws, putting the Valiants up 22-18. Julianna Knice drained a deepball to make it a one point game again with 5:11 to go, but Manhattanville went on a 10-0 run to take the first double-digit lead of the affair, 32-21. Tucker and Orlando would hit all four of the team's free throw attempts in the final minute of the half to take a 36-26 advantage into the break.

The Valiant shooters would come out cold in the third, shooting just 18 percent in the quarter including an 0-for-4 mark from deep. This presented the Golden Eagles the opportunity to get back into the game. After Saint Joseph's scored the first three points of the quarter, the Valiants went on a 6-0 run to go ahead 42-29. What followed was more than two straight scoreless minutes before Lanyah Ford went to the line for the Golden Eagles, hitting both of her shots. This was the start of a 13-0 Saint Joseph's run that closed out the final 2:37 of the quarter, completely wiping out Manhattanville's lead and making it a brand new ball game entering the fourth tied 42-42.

Refusing to get defeated after losing their advantage, the Valiants played their best ball in the fourth as they shot 77 percent from the field. After Adomaites began the quarter with a 1-for-2 trip to the line, the Valiants ran off eight straight points to retake the lead 50-43 with 7:36 to play.  Saint Joseph's would hit just two field goals over the final 10 minutes of play as Manhattanville continued to hit buckets. Ford would notch the Golden Eagles' first field goal to get the home team back within six before a Livi Correia (North Attleboro, Mass./Worcester Academy) three began a 14-2 Valiant run that put the game out of reach. The dominant play down the stretch secured the Valiants their 20^th win of the season, just the fifth time in program history the team has reached 20 victories and the second time under the tenure of head coach ate Vlahakis.

Manhattanville ends the regular season in a tie for first place with Merchant Marine, with both teams going 16-2 in Skyline Conference play this year. As the top two squads, both teams have earned first round byes in the postseason tournament which gets underway on Tuesday, but the final seedings are still to be determined.

With the Valiants and Mariners splitting the regular season series, sporting an identical winning percentage against the rest of the conference with their only other Skyline losses coming against Mount Saint Mary, and an identical record against common non-conference opponents (both teams were victorious against Pratt), the regular season champion and the No. 1 seed will come down to Athletic Director Executive Committee decision.

Up Next
However the standings and seeds shake out, the Valiants will make their postseason debut in the Skyline Semifinals on Thursday inside Kennedy Gymnasium. More information regard game time and opponents will be available on www.govaliants.com in the coming days.

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