DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team fell on the road to conference foe Delaware Valley on Wednesday night by the score of 71-57. In the losing effort, the Valiants were led by junior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), who finished the game with 21 points including three three-point baskets.
The Valiants started out of the gates slow as they fell behind by a 6-1 margin. Manhattanville clawed back into the game and went on an 8-2 run to take a 9-8 lead with 14:08 to go in the first period that was capped off by a pair of free throws by Wilson.
Delaware Valley answered back with a 14-2 run of their own to regain the lead with 9:40 to go. After not scoring a basket for over three minutes of game time, the Valiants finally snapped their drought as Wilson hit a three-pointer with 6:13 to go to trim the deficit to 27-16. Less than a minute later, Wilson hit a second straight three-pointer at 5:31 as the Valiants continued to fight back from their double-digit deficit.
Freshman Sarah Vann (Mobile, Ala./John F. Kennedy (Bronx, N.Y.)) hit a layup to get the lead back under 10 with over three minutes to go, and classmate Dominique Wilson (Coram, N.Y./Centereach) hit four straight to bring the Valiants within six. The Aggies hit a pair of free throws to end the frame and take a 36-27 lead into the halftime break.
After the intermission the Aggies hit a long-range three pointer to start off play but the Valiants answered back quickly as junior Jennifer McSharar (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) hit a basket after taking a pass from D. Wilson. The two sides continued to exchange baskets and Manhattanville then went on a 6-0 run as T. Wilson hit five of the six Valiant tallies with senior Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) hitting a free throw as well during the stretch.
The Aggies answered right back with a 5-0 run of their own and regained the 10-point edge at 48-38 with 12:46 to go. Delaware Valley's run was answered again by a 6-0 run by the Valiants as senior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) hit a deuce that was followed up by baskets from T. Wilson and Vann and the lead was within four. As the game crossed into the final 10 minutes of play the Valiants trailed by five at 50-45.
McSharar then hit a basket and pulled the lead to within three, after 90 seconds of scoreless play Turner hit the basket and was fouled with a chance to tie the game at the free throw line. Although that attempt missed, Manhattanville did hit their next three free throws, including two from freshman Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) to tie the game at 52 with 6:28 to go.
Delaware Valley then went on an 12-3 run as the Aggies began to pull away with 2:27 to go in the game. With the lead back at 11, Hyjek hit a layup to get the lead back down to 66-57 with just over a minute to go. Manhattanville began to foul and the Aggies answered going 5-of-6 at the line to end the game and come away with the 71-57 victory.
The Valiants were outshot from the floor by a 34.9% to a 26.8% margin. As was the case seven days earlier against FDU-Florham, the Valiants turned the ball over 25 times to the Aggies' 19 turnovers. The Valiants outrebounded their hosts 59-47, including 30 offensive rebounds for the Valiants. McSharar individually had 16 boards, which set a new career-high for the junior.
Also for McSharar she fell just shy of a double-double once again as she had nine points. Vann contributed seven points off the bench, while Hyjek, Turner and D. Wilson each had six points.
Manhattanville (6-9, 1-4 Freedom) will return home to Kennedy Gym to host the King's (Pa.) Monarchs on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. with live coverage available on GoValiants.TV. Delaware Valley (11-5, 2-3 Freedom) will also be back in action on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. as they travel to Dallas, Pa. to take on Misericordia.