PURCHASE, N.Y. – Bouncing back from their first conference loss of the season over the weekend, the Manhattanville University women's basketball team returned to form on Tuesday night with a 77-50 victory against Purchase College. With just three games left in the regular season, the Valiants remain a game ahead in first place of the Skyline Conference standings at 16-1, improving to 18-4 overall with the win.
Julie DeBrocky (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and
Kathleen O'Mara (Huntington, N.Y./Walt Whitman) erupted to get the Valiants back on the right side of the win column by combining for 45 points. DeBrocky's 23 matched her season high from the team's win over Merchant Marine in December and was her third time surpassing the 20 point mark, adding seven rebounds, four assists, a block and a pair of takeaways. DeBrocky was lethal from deep, hitting seven of her eight tries from beyond the arc to tie the program's single-game record for three pointers the second time this season. The senior last hit seven three pointers in that win against Merchant Marine.
O'Mara, meanwhile, posted a new career-high with 22 points, shattering her previous benchmark of 16 set last month against Farmingdale. The sophomore also earned her third double-double of the season, leading the Valiants with 10 rebounds while supplying three assists and a steal.
Amanda Orlando (Putnam Valley, N.Y./Putnam Valley) also shined, putting up 14 while logging a career-high eight assists to get the offense flowing. Orlando also led the Valiants with five steals and added two rebounds.
Rounding out the starting five,
Gabby Tucker (Port Chester, N.Y./Blind Brook) and
Esther Ramos (Queens, N.Y./Forest Hills) made their impacts felt away from the basket. Both scored six points, while Tucker added six assists, four steals, four rebounds and a block, while Ramos was also a menace off the glass with nine rebounds. Manhattanville won the battle of the boards, 40-30.
Coming off Saturday's loss at Saint Joseph's Long Island where the team shot under 27 percent in the first three quarters, Manhattanville's offense looked like it was back to its usual self, shooting 50 percent to open the night. An early 6-0 run with buckets from Tucker, Ramos and Orlando gave Manhattanville an 8-3 lead that the home team never relinquished. The Panthers got back within two on an Ashley Santiago three before the Valiants ended the final three minutes of the quarter with eight of the final ten points, capped off by an Orlando three to take an 18-10 lead into the second.
After scoring the game's opening basket, O'Mara opened the scoring of the new stanza with a pair of layups to push Manhattanville's lead into double digits. While the Valiant shooting overall cooled down to 27 percent, Manhattanville was 4-of-6 from deep to keep building the lead. DeBrocky accounted for three of the treys in the quarter while Orlando provided the other. Purchase was able to keep up with the Vals by shooting 40 percent and were able to get within single digits five times in the quarter, but DeBrocky sent the home team into the half up by 11 with her third three-pointer of the quarter, bringing the Valiants lead to 36-25.
Manhattanville had its best quarter of the night in the third, shooting 63 percent and scoring 24 to pull away. The Valiants opened the half on a 9-0 run, led by six from O'Mara, to push the lead up to 20. Manhattanville's advantage reached as high as 24, with the home side heading into the final 10 minutes comfortably up, 60-38.
The Valiants hit three more three-pointers and shot 44 percent to close out the night. DeBrocky hit back-to-back shots from deep to tie the Valiants' single-game record with 2:36 left to go while
Madison Carlo (Carmel, N.Y./Kennedy Catholic) delivered the final blow with a three in the final possession to cap off the 77-50 win.
Up Next
Manhattanville opens the final road trip of the regular season on Saturday, headed to Long Island to close out the season series against Old Westbury at 12 p.m.
