PURCHASE, N.Y. – Back stateside to begin the second half of the season, the Manhattanville College women's basketball team put up 100 points in a dominant conference win over Old Westbury, 100-37. The Valiants improve to 8-2 overall and remain perfect in Skyline action at 6-0 in the conference.
Bouncing back from their first losses of the season at the Puerto Rico Clasico two weeks ago, the Valiants showed little rust coming back from the holiday break. Manhattanville reached the century mark in a game for a fourth-straight season, just four points shy of the program record for points in a game. The Vals shot 48 percent from the field and drained 14 threes, setting a new single-game program record.
Defensively, the Valiants returned to form after a pair of games against high caliber offenses in Puerto Rico as they held the Panthers to 37 points on 13 field goals. Old Westbury went 1-for-10 from beyond the arc as the Valiants shut down all deep ball attempts. Manhattanville also recorded a season-high 25 steals in the win.
The Valiants were led offensively by three in double-digits.
Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) was a dominating presence under the basket in this one as she scored a season-high 19 points in her 22 minutes while pulling down seven boards, five of which came off the offensive glass.
Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) finished just behind her with 18 points as she found her three-point shot again with all six of her baskets coming from beyond the arc.
Julie Debrocky (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) joined the duo in double figures as she was Manhattanville's top performer off the bench. The sophomore matched her career-high with 12 points in 15 minutes of play as she went 3-for-4 from deep and drilled all three of her free throw attempts. Debrocky added three assists, three rebounds and a steal.
Esther Ramos (Queens, N.Y./Forest Hills) finished tied with Smith for the team lead in boards with seven to set a new personal high.
Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) added five boards while
Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) finished with four as the Valiants finished plus-18 in the battle of the boards.
The Valiants wasted little time getting off to a hot start as the home team went on an 11-0 run to build up a 15-3 advantage midway through the opening quarter. The run featured a pair of deep shots from Agostino and another from Orlando. Manhattanville's lead would climb up to 15 at the first horn as Orlando converted a layup in the closing minute to put the Valiants up 24-9.
Manhattanville continued to strike from beyond the arc, going 5-for-7 from deep in the second quarter to continue to pull away. Agostino drained three three-pointers to close out the half while
Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) and
Angela Downey (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) each added one. Up by 13, the Valiants rattled off 16 unanswered points as part of a larger 27-2 run that swelled their advantage up to 53-15. While the Panthers would head into the locker room with the final four points of the half, it did little to dent Manhattanville's lead and momentum.
While the third quarter saw the Valiants shoot a game-low 39 percent, the home team hit another three shots from deep to continue putting the foot on the gas. A three from Downey and a
Gwen Merrifield (Plymouth, NH/Plymouth Regional High School) layup in the final minute of the frame had Manhattanville leading 70-32 entering the final ten minutes. From there, the Valiants shot 46 percent from the field to close out the game with 11 field goals while holding the Panthers to just one field goal in the fourth. Manhattanville went on a 26-1 run across six minutes to reach the century mark, capped off by a four-point play from Debrocky who drained a three while getting fouled before delivering at the charity stripe. The Panthers would hit their final two free throw attempts to move the final score to 100-37.
Up Next
The Valiants begin a three-game road trip on Thursday, opening with their non-conference finale against Penn State Berks at 5 p.m.
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