KINGS POINT, N.Y. – Making their return to the Conference Championship Finals for the first time since 2010, the incredible season for the Manhattanville College women's basketball team came to a close on Saturday night with a 56-47 loss to top-seeded Merchant Marine. The loss brings the Valiants' final record on the season to 21-4.

Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) put the finishing touches on her fantastic rookie season with a 13 point, five rebound performance. Orlando finished tied for the team-lead in both categories on the night as she also led the team in steals with four. Joining her with 13 points was Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville). The junior hit three shots from beyond the arc as she officially ends the year with a program-record 79 three pointers. Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) added 10 points off the bench, doing most of her damage at the charity stripe with an 8-for-9 effort on free throw attempts.

Tucker would also finish with five rebounds alongside Orlando. Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) and Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) both finished with four boards, but the play off the glass was dominated by the Mariners on the night as they outrebounded the Valiants 55-29. The rebound discrepancy would ultimately prove too much for the Valiants to overcome as USMMA scored 19 second chance points off 22 offensive rebounds.

It would take more than nine minutes into the game for either team to hold a multi-point lead as the advantage changed hands nine times. It would be the Mariners scoring the first points on back-to-back trips of the night as a Madison Demos layup and a pair of free throws by Lauren Hunter put Merchant Marine up 11-8 with 43 seconds left in the quarter. The Valiants would respond with four points of their own to close out the frame as an Agostino jumper and a pair of Tucker free throws put the Valiants up 12-11 at the end of the first.

Manhattanville carried the momentum into the second quarter as the Valiants scored eight unanswered points through the first 1:12. Agostino sandwiched a layup from Smith with a pair of threes to suddenly give the Valiants a nine point advantage. The Mariners were able to keep Manhattanville from getting too far away as the lead would peak at that nine point advantage. After Tucker delivered at the charity stripe once again to put the Valiants up 27-19 with 1:27 left in the half, the Valiants threatened to take a decent lead into the half. Demos had other plans, however, as she hit a pair of jumpers to close out second and cut Manhattanville's lead down to 27-23.

While the Valiants were able to withstand losing the battle of the boards in the first half, being outrebounded 25-15, the Mariners' constant collection of caroms would begin to add up in the third. The Valiants shot just 29 percent in the quarter while being held off the free throw line. Conversely, USMMA shot a game-best 44 percent in the period while earning eight trips to the charity stripe. The result was Merchant Marine outscoring Manhattanville 19-9 and swinging momentum onto the other side of the floor. After Angela Downey (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) hit a three with 3:26 left in the quarter, USMMA went on a 7-0 run to close out the frame to take a 42-36 lead into the final ten minutes.

Manhattanville was able to get back to the free throw line in the fourth, shooting 6-of-9, but the team shot just 2-of-14 from the field to close out the game as they would be unable to catch back up to Merchant Marine. Tucker hit a pair of free throws with 5:59 left to make it a two point game a 44-42, but the Mariners outscored Manhattanville 12-5 over the remainder of the contest to earn the 56-47 win and punch their ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

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