PATCHOGUE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University women's basketball team faltered on the road on Thursday night, dropping a 52-47 decision against Saint Joseph's University Long Island. The Valiants' three-game winning streak comes to an end with the loss, dropping to 9-4 overall and 6-3 in the Skyline Conference, while the Golden Eagles improve to 12-3 on the season with an 8-2 mark in conference play.

The loss snaps Manhattanville's 18-game winning streak over the Golden Eagles that dated all the way back to 2003.

Two days removed from her buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat Mount Saint Mary, Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) had her best offensive performance of the season as she led all players on both teams with 17 points. The junior hit seven field goals and went 3-for-4 at the free throw line, reaching double-figures for the second time on the year. She was joined by Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) as the Valiants' top offensive performers, with Tucker scoring ten.

Kathleen O'Mara (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) and Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) brought down 11 rebounds each as the Valiants held a 49-44 board advantage on the night. Smith added three steals, a total matched by Julie Debrocky (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) to lead Manhattanville. Esther Ramos (Queens, N.Y./Forest Hills) came down with seven rebounds, while Tucker and Orlando had five apiece.

After erasing the Golden Eagles' early four-point lead, the Valiants led for a majority of the first half. Despite shooting just 20 percent from the field in the opening quarter, Manhattanville was able to go in front thanks to a 6-for-8 effort at the line. The Vals ended things on a 4-0 run as Orlando hit a layup and a pair of free throws to put Manhattanville up 12-8 through ten minutes of play.

Manhattanville continued to lead for the entirety of the second quarter, going on a 6-0 run off a pair of Tucker floaters and another courtesy of Orlando to swell their lead up to 27-16. Facing their largest deficit of the game, it was all Golden Eagles for the final three minutes of the half, scoring nine unanswered points to close the gap all the way down to just two points as Manhattanville's lead sat at 27-25.
Saint Joseph's completed the comeback and took the lead to open the third as their run extended with four more points to begin the second half. The Valiants tied the game three times over the remainder of the third, with Smith's layup in the final minute pulling Manhattanville even at 38-38 to enter the final quarter.

Manhattanville shot just .167 in the fourth quarter and went 1-of-6 from deep. The Valiants were able to take the lead despite going cold from the floor as Tucker hit a three-pointer to break the tie. Manhattanville was able to stave off the Golden Eagles by hitting at the free throw line for the first five minutes of the quarter before Isabella Sierra hit from deep to tie the game up at 4-45 with 4:16 left to go. Orlando hit a layup going the other way to put the Valiants back in front temporarily, but the Golden Eagles scored seven unanswered points over the final 3:45 to secure the win as Manhattanville missed each of their eight final field goal attempts.

Up Next
The Valiants end their regular season series against Farmingdale on Saturday, taking on the Rams at 12 p.m.

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