FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team played their second and final game of the 2011 Cruzin' Classic on Sunday morning and fell to the Virginia Wesleyan Marlins by a score of 79-67. The Valiants were led by senior Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) who had 20 points in the loss.

The game started off with the Valiants missing their first two shots during the first 30 seconds of the game that resulted in Virginia Wesleyan opening the game with a 2-0 lead. Junior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) hit her first basket of the morning to tie the game at two. Manhattanville took their first lead of the game when Turner hit a free throw to make the game 5-4 with 17:39 to go in the first half.

After a series of cold shooting from both sides for nearly two and a half minutes, the streak was finally snapped when Virginia Wesleyan trimmed the Valiant lead to 8-6 with 13:56 to go. After the Marlins tied the game, senior guard Stephanie Vaiano(South Ozone Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy) sank a jumper to give Manhattanville the lead back with just over 13 minutes to go.

The Marlins then went on an 8-1 run and opened up a 16-11 lead, which the Valiants followed up with a 10-3 run of their own to take back a 21-19 lead, with the Valiant run capped off by a three-pointer from Wilson. The two sides exchanged baskets throughout the remainder of the period and the Valiants finished the half as they did the previous day, tied at 33.

In the second half Manhattanville came out stronger than the first with Turner collecting her own offensive rebound to open the scoring. Turner hit once again followed by a pair of baskets by junior Jennifer McSharar (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland), and Wilson got in on the action by sinking another trey to open up an eight-point edge with 17:17 to go.

After a basket by Virginia Wesleyan, the Valiants answered back with two more of their own as Turner and Wilson each hit a shot and Manhattanville had their largest lead of the game at 10 (48-38). The two teams then exchanged a series of turnovers, however when the Marlins were able to stop their turnovers the Valiants did not, and Virginia Wesleyan went on a run to take a 62-54 lead with 6:30 to go.

Turner finally stopped the run with a basket at 5:47 and freshman Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Saviour) hit a layup to make it a four-point game once again. The Marlins continued their hot outside shooting and hit back-to-back three-pointers to re-open a 10-point lead.

A three-pointer by freshman guard Kelly Ann Sullivan (Amity Harbor, N.Y./Copiague) with under two minutes to go made the score 70-61, and then Manhattanville began to foul to force the Marlins to the free throw line in an attempt to keep the game close. Virginia Wesleyan made their free throws count by going 9-of-10 at the charity stripe while on the other side, Manhattanville only got six points including a three-pointer by freshman Nicole Robinson (Greenburgh, N.Y./The Ursuline School).

In the game Manhattanville shot better from the field by a percentage point (41% to 40%). The difference in the game was the three-point game as Virginia Wesleyan went 9-of-26, while Manhattanville went 4-of-11, also a glaring difference was the free throw shooting for both sides, as the Marlins went 22-for-28 at the line while the Valiants only went 9-for-16.

Leading the way for Manhattanville was Turner who had 20 points, going 7-for-13 from the field while collecting seven rebounds. Wilson also had seven rebounds while putting up 15 points. Leading the team on the glass once again was McSharar who had 11 boards while falling a basket shy of her third straight double-double. Sullivan dished out a career-high eight assists while putting up five points as well.

Manhattanville (3-7, 0-2 Freedom) will fly back to New York and be back in action on Thursday evening as they look to snap their losing streak against New Jersey City at 7:00 p.m.; due to the winter break their will be no broadcast of the game, however you can follow the live stats on GoValiants.com. Virginia Wesleyan (7-1, 4-0 Old Dominion) will be back in action tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. when they take on Messiah to finish off their trip to the Cruzin' Classic.