PURCHASE, N.Y. – The 2023-24 Manhattanville College women's basketball season drew to a close on Saturday afternoon as the top-seeded Valiants were defeated by No. 3 Mount Saint Vincent 63-42 in the Skyline Conference Championship Finals game. The Valiants officially end the year with a 23-4 overall record, the best winning percentage in a single season in program history.
The Valiants' postseason run came up just short in the Skyline Conference Championship Finals for a second straight year as the team hoped to avenge last year's finals loss to Merchant Marine. Despite running roughshod over the Skyline in the regular season with a 19-1 conference record to secure home court advantage, the Valiants ultimately met their match in a Dolphin team that will be headed to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.
Manhattanville struggled to find their footing against the Mount Saint Vincent defense, shooting a season low .246 on the game. The Valiants were also silenced from deep, shooting just 1-for-16 on three point attempts. The shooting woes, coupled with the Dolphins out rebounding the Valiants 51-37, made it an incredibly difficult attempt for Manhattanville to claw out of a deficit that sat at 17 through the first half.
Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) finished with a team-high 12 points, supplying a majority of her production from the free throw line where she shot 8-for-8. The sophomore added two steals to lead the Valiants in that category as well. Julianna Kascic (North Bergen, N.J./Paramus Catholic) was the only other Valiant in double-figures, finishing with 10 alongside eight rebounds.
Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) came away with 14 boards to lead all players on the floor, but was unable to keep up with the Dolphins' rebounding efforts as a team despite Kascic and Livi Correia (North Attleboro, Mass./Worcester Academy) (seven rebounds) playing well off the glass alongside her. Smith also blocked a pair of shots, officially ending her junior campaign with 132 for her career, the third-most in program history.
Things were evenly matched for a majority of the opening quarter as the teams battled to three separate tied scores. The Dolphins staked claim to an early four point advantage before the Valiants tied things up at 8-8 off baskets from Correia and Kascic. Ariella Johnson temporarily but the Dolphins back up with a layup, but Orlando responded with a pair of free throws to knot it up at 10-10 under two minutes. It was there that Mount Saint Vincent began to take control, ending the quarter on a 6-0 run to take a lead they would hold for the remainder of the contest.
The Dolphins started to pull away as they shot 47 percent in the second quarter while holding the Valiants to a .235 clip from the floor. Manhattanville went 0-for-4 from deep, going 0-for-7 from beyond the arc in the half, as they were unable to respond with the much-needed three-pointer to halt the Dolphins' momentum. With the score 20-14, UMSV went on an 11-2 run that put the visiting team up by 15 with two minutes before the half. Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) put the Valiants on the board for the first time in almost five minutes with a layup, but Johnson hit a free throw before draining a buzzer-beater three to have the Dolphins up 35-18 through the first 20 minutes.
With the season hanging in the balance, the Valiants began to claw back in the third quarter by capitalizing on the Dolphins' foul trouble. Manhattanville went to the line 14 times in the third quarter, hitting nine of their free throws as they outscored the Dolphins 19-11 in the quarter. Trailing 43-27, the Valiants went on an 8-0 run to bring the deficit down to single digits. Johnson struck again for the Dolphins with a three pointer in the closing minute, but Orlando drilled two more free throws to have the Valiants within striking distance entering the fourth, down 46-37.
Despite the strong effort to get back into the game in the third, the Valiants were limited to a 1-for-9 finish from the floor in the fourth quarter. Manhattanville looked to finally get something going from beyond the arc, but went just 1-for-6 on three-point attempts and couldn't shoot their way out of the hole. Mount Saint Vincent did more than enough to close out the game against Manhattanville's shooting struggles, shooting 36 percent in the quarter and going 6-for-8 at the free throw line to earn the victory.
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