ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team dropped their Freedom Conference matchup against the Eastern Eagles on Saturday afternoon by the score of 81-65. The Valiants had three players reach double-figures in points, led by senior forward Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) who scored 17 points.
Also amongst the scoring leaders were junior Jennifer McSharar (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) with 16 points and senior guard Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) added a dozen of her own. In terms of rebound the Valiants were led by senior guard Stephanie Vaiano (South Ozone Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) who had nine for the day.
The game started off well for the Valiants who jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a basket by McSharar and a pair of free throws from Hyjek. After a quick basket by the Eagles, Manhattanville went on a 13-2 run that was capped off by a three-pointer from junior guard Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) with 13:46 to go in the first half to give Manhattanville a 17-4 edge.
Manhattanville cooled off in terms of their shooting which allowed the Eagles to close the gap to five as they answered with an 8-0 run of their own that was broken up by Turner who hit a jumper to put the Valiants back up by seven. Again the Eagles went on yet another 6-0 run that was stopped by a layup from Hyjek to keep the Valiants up by a 21-18 score.
The Valiants regained a six-point edge over the dwindling minutes of the first half as freshman Dominique Wilson (Coram, N.Y./Centereach) hit a fastbeak jumper after taking a pass from Turner. The Eagles finished the period on a 10-2 run and ended the frame with their first lead of the period at 31-29.
After the intermission both sides missed a three-pointer each but Taylor redeemed her miss by going on a five-point spurt to put the Valiants up by one with just over a minute gone by. The two sides exchanged baskets and eventually the Valiants tied the score at 44 when Turner hit a jumper with 15:32 to go in regulation.
Over the next few minutes the Eagles ballooned their lead up to seven, but again the Valiants refused to turn over as Hyjek hit a layup with 10:47 to go in the contest to pull within one point at 54-53. Down the stretch of the contest Eastern began to pull away and took their first double-digit lead of the game at 71-61 with 3:31 remaining.
The Eagles finished the contest on a 14-4 run to set the final score at 81-65 and improved their conference record to 6-2 while trying to keep pace with the top teams in the league. The Eagles were led by Shante Jones who had 20 points off the bench while Meghan Nowak was second as she added 19 points of her own.
Once again the Valiants outrebounded their opponents by a 44-42 margin but Eastern was able to capitalize on their second chance opportunities by outscoring the Valiants 15-6 in that category. Meanwhile as a team the Eagles shot 43.8% from the field with the Valiants close behind at 38.0%.
Manhattanville (6-12, 1-7 Freedom) will return home from their two-game road trip on Wednesday evening at Kennedy Gym when they play host to FDU-Florham with tip-off set for 6:00 p.m. and game coverage available on GoValiants.TV. Eastern (14-4, 6-2 Freedom) will hit the hardwood again on Monday when they hit the road to take on non-conference Cabrini at 6:00 p.m.