PURCHASE, N.Y. – In a game that came down to the wire, the Manhattanville College women's basketball team outlasted the visiting Dolphins of Mount Saint Vincent on Wednesday evening, winning a 52-50 dogfight. The win, Manhattanville's tenth straight, clinches the No. 1 overall seed for the Valiants for the upcoming Skyline Conference Championship Tournament as the team improves to 20-3 overall and 17-1 in conference play.
On a day where both offenses struggled to find their rhythm, with both teams shooting 32 percent overall, the Valiants' success from deep proved to be the difference maker. Manhattanville went 9-for-18 from beyond the arc, compared to the Dolphins' 1-for-15 mark, and the Valiants would need all 27 points they scored off three-pointers to win the bout. After tying the program record with seven three-pointers on Saturday against Farmingdale,
Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) continued to let it rain from three as all 15 of her points came from beyond the arc.
Agostino was joined in double figures by Livi Corriea who finished with 11, with her biggest basket being a three-pointer with 43 seconds remaining to put the Valiants back in front. The senior guard finished with a team-high six assists and two steals while adding six rebounds, second only to
Niyona Smith's (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) seven.
Angela Downey (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst) also found some success from deep as she scored all nine of her points off the bench via three-pointer.
After their first matchup last month went down to the wire in Riverdale, the Valiants looked poised to run away with things after a strong first quarter. Manhattanville shot 50 percent overall from the floor and 83 percent from deep with five three-pointers. Up 6-4 at the 6:22 mark, the Valiants went on an 8-0 run over the next minute and a half to jump ahead 13-4. The Dolphins put the next five points on the board but Agostino's third three of the quarter stopped the run and led to Manhattanville going up by 10 on a
Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) layup entering the final minute. However, the Dolphins came storming back once again and scored six points in the final 58 seconds to cut the Valiant advantage down to 21-17.
Manhattanville was unable to carry their first quarter shooting success into the second as the team shot a .250 clip from the floor and missed both of their shots from deep. Fortunately, the Dolphins didn't fare much better, allowing the Valiants to carry a lead into the half. After Amber Been hit a layup for Mount Saint Vincent to open up the quarter and pull the Dolphins within two, the Valiants went on an 8-0 run that took more than four and a half minutes off the clock, leading 29-19 with 4:38 remaining. As was the case the quarter prior, the Dolphins kept the Valiants at bay and scored nine straight to make it a one point game with 33 seconds remaining.
Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) brought an end to the Mount Saint Vincent scoring surge with a layup to keep the Vals up 31-28 at the horn.
Both teams continued to struggle coming out at the half as the Dolphins shot 27 percent while the Valiants just 21. The result was the lowest scoring quarter of the game, with just 19 combined points being scored. Been brought the Dolphins within one with a layup, promptly answered by a Corriea floater the other way in the ensuing possession. 1:20 later, Kira Villegas cut the deficit back down to one with a jumper, prompting a Manhattanville timeout. It would take close to another minute before the next basket, but Agostino delivered again from deep to reestablish some breathing room, aided by a Kascic basket that had Manhattanville up 38-32. Over the final four minutes of the quarter, the Dolphins outscored the Valiants 6-2 to set the stage for a dramatic fourth quarter with Manhattanville up 40-38.
Downey opened up the fourth quarter scoring with a three-ball, but the Dolphins scored the next six to take their first lead since 36 seconds into the first quarter. After a pair of Villegas free throws put the Dolphins ahead 44-43, neither team could buy a basket as the score held steady until a Jakaia Lotz layup for UMSV with 4:15 to play. Another layup by Ariella Johnson had the Dolphins protecting a five point lead, their largest of the game, with under four minutes to go. Still trailing by five with 1:44 remaining, Agostino delivered her final basket of the day, a three-pointer that brought the Valiants back within a single possession.
The Dolphins missed a pair of shots going the other way, giving the Valiants the ball back with 1:11 remaining. Correia then delivered her biggest basket of the outing, a three-pointer via Smith that put Manhattanville back in front with 43 seconds on the clock. The Valiants defense held firm as Been and Magan Jackson missed go-ahead layups before Kascic came down with a crucial defensive rebound. With four fouls to give, the Dolphins were unable to breakup the Valiants' inbounding efforts before sending the team to the line. Kascic went 1-for-2 at the stripe to put Manhattanville up 52-50, and Kayla Hanley's buzzer-beater attempt from three was off target to allow the Valiants to hold on and survive, clinching the number one seed.
Up Next
It's short rest for the Valiants who are right back in action tomorrow to take on Yeshiva at 8 p.m.
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