PURCHASE, N.Y. – The postseason begins tonight for the Manhattanville College women's basketball team as they seek to make their first conference championship finals appearance since 2010. After a first round bye, the second-seeded Valiants will sqaure off with No. 3 Mount Saint Mary in a rematch of last year's Skyline Conference semifinals. 
 
 
How We Got Here 
 
Manhattanville women's basketball closed out the regular season with seven straight wins to clinch a postseason berth and secure the No. 2 seed in the Skyline Conference standings. As a result of finishing alongside USMMA as the top two teams in the conference, Manhattanville earned a first round bye. The Valiants finished with a 20-3 overall record and 16-2 mark in conference play. 
 
The Valiants finished the regular season last week with wins over Saint Joseph's-Brooklyn and Long Island. On Tuesday evening, Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) would dominate with a career-high 29 points, and tally 12 rebounds and four assists in an 81-62 win over the Bears.  Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) would score 13 to help out the Valiants, while Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) would grab eight total boards on the night. Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) also officially claimed the program's single-season three point record as she enters the post season with 73 deep balls on the year.
 
To close out the week and finish the regular season, it would be another four-player double digit performance as Orlando scored 22 to lead the Valiants to a 68-50 win against St. Joseph's-Long Island on Saturday afternoon. Agostino would hit four three pointers to tally 15 points, and Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) would have a career-high 11 points, with Kascic adding 10 to her totals and a team-high 13 rebounds. It was a strong fourth quarter as Manhattanville shot almost 77 percent from the field. 

Mount Saint Mary notched a 65-57 win over No. 6 Mount Saint Vincent in the Skyline Conference Championship opening round matchup on Tuesday to put the defending champs back in the semifinals. Erin Smith hung 20 on the board to lead the way for the Knights, who really pulled away in the second quarter after outscoring the Dolphins 14-3. Mount Saint Vincent made a fourth quarter push, but time was ultimately not on their side.
 
Last Time Out 
 
Manhattanville will look for a similar outcome as their 57-55 victory on the road against MSMC on Feb. 8. In the previous clash, the Valiants shot 63 percent during the fourth quarter to pull a last second victory and put themselves in better position for postseason play. Orlando led the team with 18 points, while Smith and Kascic scored 11 and 10, respectively. Both Kascic and Smith had a team-high eight rebounds on the night. The Knights had a strong performance as they were up by one going into the half but ultimately were defeated. Katie Smith led for Mount Saint Mary with 18 points, and Asia Rivera added nine points and grabbed eight boards. The Knights will now head down to Purchase on Thursday where the Valiants will have home court advantage for this Skyline Semifinals matchup. 

The teams met up in Newburgh for the 2022 Skyline Conference Championship semifinals. It was a tightly-contested game throughout before the Knights used a 17-8 fourth quarter to earn the 63-57 win to advance to the championship game and ultimately win the Skyline title. The highest-scoring returner for the Valiants from that playoff game is Kristen Scrobola (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas High School), who finished the night with nine points.
 
Team Leaders 
 
Manhattanville 

• Points Per Game: Kascic (14.7), Agostino (12.9), Orlando (9.9)
• Rebounds Per Game: Kascic (11.0), Smith (7.5), Scrobola (4.2)
• Assists Per Game: Kascic (3.2), Correia (2.3), Orlando (1.8)
• Steals Per Game: Correia (2.2), Orlando (2.1), Smith (1.5)
• Field Goal Percentage: Kascic (.545), Orlando (.433), Downey (.430)

Mount Saint Mary

• Points Per Game: K. Smith (11.3), E. Smith (9.0), Rivera and Hughes (8.3)
• Rebounds Per Game: Hughes (5.1), Rivera (4.4), Guglielmo (3.9) 
• Assists Per Game: K. Smith (4.0), Desrats (1.8), McCann (1.7)
• Steals Per Game: Rivera (2.3), Desrats and Twohig (1.8), E. Smith (1.7)
• Field Goal Percentage: Guglielmo (.483), Hughes (.473), K. Smith (.432) 

History 

• All-Time Record: 2-5
• Streak: Manhattanville W1
• Last 5: Manhattanville 1-4
• Series Record at Manhattanville: 1-2
• Scores from Last Five Meetings:
  • 2/8/2023: Mount Saint Mary 55, Manhattanville 57
  • 1/7/2023: Manhattanville 51, Mount Saint Mary 61
  • 2/24/2022: Mount Saint Mary 63, Manhattanville 57
  • 2/15/2022: Manhattanville 71, Mount Saint Mary 80
  • 1/20/2022: Mount Saint Mary 70, Manhattanville 61