PURCHASE, N.Y. – And then there were four.

Following a second-straight 20-win regular season, the Manhattanville College women's basketball team is back in the conference tournament semifinals for a fifth-consecutive season. The Valiants hold the No. 1 seed for the first time since 2011, securing home court advantage through the entirety of their tournament run which will get underway on Thursday night against the fourth-seeded Saint Joseph's Long Island Golden Eagles.
   
How We Got Here
Winners of 12-straight games, the Manhattanville Valiants secured the No. 1 seed in the Skyline after going 19-1 in conference play. The Valiants have been a perfect 12-0 on their home court, winning games inside Kennedy Gymnasium by an average of 33.4 points. The team's regular-season finale displayed Manhattanville's home-court advantage in full force as the Valiants defeated Yeshiva 85-28 on Sunday.

Manhattanville has succeeded as a full-team effort this year, getting contributions across the starting five as well as the bench rotation. Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) enters the postseason averaging a double-double per game, scoring 13.0 points and pulling down 10.2 rebounds per game to lead the team in both categories. In fact, Kascic ranks second in all of the Skyline in rebounding heading into the semifinals. Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) and Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville) both have put up 10.6 points per game to round out the Valiants' top scorers, with Smith also being a rebound threat with 8.4 boards per game while Agostino is the Skyline's top three-point shooter, connecting on almost 40 percent of her shots from beyond the arc.

The offense has typically run through Livi Correia (North Attleboro, Mass./Worcester Academy), who leads the Valiants with 86 assists on the year. Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley), the conference's reigning Rookie of the Year, has rounded out the starting five for all but one game this season and has put up nine points per game.

Securing the top seed earned the Valiants a first-round bye in the Conference Championship Tournament, awaiting to take on the winner of the No. 4 SJLI-No. 5 USMMA matchup. The Golden Eagles were victorious in the quarterfinal matchup on Tuesday, defeating the Mariners 62-54. USMMA never led in the contest, with Saint Joseph's leading by as high as 13 in the third quarter. Casey Travers shined for Saint Joseph's, scoring 25 points with nine rebounds in the win. Felicia Barreiros added 11 points, while Megan Spina finished with a team-high 10 rebounds.

Travers has been one of the conference's top scorers this season, with her 15.7 poitns per game being tied for third in the Skyline. Lanyah Ford and Spina also average double-figures per game for the Golden Eagles this season, but Ford has been absent from games since Feb. 6.

Last Time Out
As they did against most of the conference, the Valiants swept the two reguar-season matchups against Saint Joseph's Long Island. The teams first met on Dec. 9 inside Kennedy Gym, where the Valiants won 56-46. Manhattanville outscored the Golden Eagles 13-2 in the first quarter and never looked back, getting double-figure scoring from Kascic, Agostino and Angela Downey (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst).

The rematch down in Patchogue on Jan. 20 saw Manhattanville pull out a 57-50 road win. It was the Golden Eagles getting off to a hot first quarter start in round two, leading 14-6 through the opening ten minutes, but the Valiants came charging back thanks to a 20 point, 13 rebound double-double from Kascic and a 10 point outing from Orlando.

While the Valiants were able to hold Travers in check for the first game to just ten points, the graduate guard scored 21 points with 12 rebounds in the rematch and will figure to be a pivotal piece in determining the outcome of Thursday's postseason bout.

Team Leaders
Manhattanville

• Points Per Game: Kascic (13.0), Smith (10.6), Agostino (10.6)
• Rebounds Per Game: Kascic (10.2), Smith (8.4), Orlando (4.1)
• Assists Per Game: Correia (3.4), Tucker (2.6), Orlando (2.5)
• Steals Per Game: Correia (2.1), Orlando (2.1), Tucker (1.5)
• Field Goal Percentage: Kascic (.523), Ramos (.525), Smith (.443)

Saint Joseph's Long Island

• Points Per Game: Travers (15.7), Ford (14.6), Spina (10.0)
• Rebounds Per Game: Ford (7.9), Travers (7.7), Spina (5.1)
• Assists Per Game: Travers (3.5), Knice (3.5), Kelly (1.9)
• Steals Per Game: Travers (2.2), Ford (1.9), Spina (1.8)
• Field Goal Percentage: Spina (.464), Siounis (.462), Ford (.390)

History

• All-Time Record vs Saint Joseph's Long Island: 24-2
• Streak: Manhattanville W18
• Series Record at Manhattanville: 12-1
• Last Five Meetings:
  • 1/20/24: Manhattanville 57, SJLI 50
  • 12/9/23: SJLI 46, Manhattanville 56
  • 2/18/23: Manhattanville 68, SJLI 50
  • 1/14/23: SJLI 49, Manhattanville 65
  • 2/22/22: SJLI 52, Manhattanville 69 

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