PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University women's basketball team emphatically punched its ticket into the postseason on Saturday afternoon as the Valiants secured the No. 3 seed for the 2025 Skyline Conference Championship Tournament with a 96-17 victory over Old Westbury. The Valiants conclude the regular season with an 18-6 overall record and a 15-5 mark in conference action.
Prior to the dominant performance on the floor, the Valiants celebrated the Class of 2025 of
Gwen Merrifield (Plymouth, NH/Plymouth Regional High School) and
Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) as part of the team's Senior Day festivities. After the pair were honored for their contributions to the program, the duo put on a show. Merrifield put up the best game of her career on Saturday, scoring 14 points with seven rebounds and a pair of assists. It was the first time in her 37 career games that Merrifield reach double-digits offensively, with the board total also setting a personal high. Smith, meanwhile, finished with a crowded statline of 10 points, seven rebounds, four blocks, two steals and two assists.
While the seniors appropriately had the spotlight, all 11 Valiants that stepped on the court finished the day with a basket.
Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) led all scorers with 18 points off the bench on an 80 percent shooting day from the field. The junior also logged seven steals to set a new career-best. Her takeaway total was matched by
Kaitlyn Mangan (New Fairfield, Conn./New Fairfield) as the freshman excelled in her first career start with 12 assists, eight points and four boards to go along with her takeaway total.
Smith and Merrifield led the Valiants' effort off the glass as Manhattanville outrebounded Old Westbury 52-28.
Cascia Sandoval (San Antonio, Texas/Harlandale) finished with six boards while her freshmen cohorts
Ryan Ford (Staten Island, N.Y./Notre Dame Academy) and
Kathleen O'Mara (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) came down with five caroms each.
Three days removed from their most lopsided loss of the season, the Valiants were dominant from the get-go on Saturday afternoon. Manhattanville opened the day on a 39-0 run that stretched into the second quarter as the team shot 50 percent from the field in the first half. All 29 first quarter points belonged to the Valiants, with the home side shooting 52 percent from the field and going 3-of-7 from deep. The Panthers went 0-for-10 from the field to begin the contest.
Manhattanville continued to build upon the 29-0 lead into the second quarter with opening layups by Orlando and Smith gave way to back-to-back threes by
Madison Carlo (Carmel, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) to cap off the 39-0 run. The Panthers got onto the board with a pair of Sakhmet Lewis free throws with 7:59 left in the half before Manhattanville closed the quarter on a 12-2 run to take a 51-4 lead downstairs into the locker room.
Comfortably ahead, the Valiants shot 49 percent over the final 20 minutes to cruise to the victory. Manhattanville went on a 21-0 run in the third to pull ahead 72-6, with its lead in the stanza peaking at 69. The Valiants continued to strike and outscored the Panthers 20-9 over the final ten minutes of play to close the regular season with the dominating 96-17 final.
Up Next
Postseason basketball returns to Kennedy Gymnasium on Tuesday as the third-seeded Valiants will host No. 6 Mount Saint Vincent in a rematch of last year's championship game in the opening round. More information will be available in the coming days on govaliants.com and skylineconference.org.
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