PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team fell on Saturday afternoon by the score of 51-49. The loss came as King's guard Katlin Michaels hit a last-second buzzer-beater to pull off the Freedom Conference Victory.
The Valiants were led by three players in double figures in scoring as junior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) led the team for the second straight game with 13 points including three 3-pointers. Manhattanville also got 11 points from senior Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn./Tolland) and 10 from classmate Stephanie Vaiano (South Ozone Park, N.Y./Archbishop Molloy).
The Monarchs started off quickly and took an early 8-0 lead to open up the game while forcing a pair of turnovers on the Valiants through the first 1:32 of the contest. The Valiants refused to give King's a double-digit lead as Hyjek put two shots up and trimmed the lead in half at 8-4.
Just as it looked as if the Monarchs were ready to go on a large run with a 14-6 lead, the Valiants played solid defense throughout the course of the game and forced plenty of turnovers to climb back into the game as Vaiano hit 4 points to lead the Valiants 7-0 run and pull the deficit to one.
After getting the game close, the Valiants overtook the lead on a good three-pointer by Wilson to give Manhattanville their first lead of the game at 18-16 with 6:39 to go in the first half. Manhattanville worked their way all the way up to a five-point lead on two occasions thorough the remainder of the half. However, King's finished the half on a 6-2 run and headed into the intermission down by only a point.
In the second period, the Monarchs stormed out of the break with two quick baskets to retake a three-point advantage but Manhattanville continued to stay within reach as Wilson hit another three-pointer with 17:12 to go to keep the game at one. Vaiano hit a fast break layup after a King's turnover and gave the lead back to the crimson and white.
After two minutes of non-scoring from either side, Vaiano broke the drought again with a fast break layup to give Manhattanville a 33-30 lead with 14:36 remaining. The two sides exchanged the lead six more times through the waning minutes of the period as King's tied the game at 49 with 23 seconds to go in regulation.
With the ball in Manhattanville's favor the Monarchs took a timeout to set a defensive play and forced a turnover on the ensuing possession. The turnover then set up Michaels to hit a floating shot off the rim that found its way to the bottom of the cylinder as time had expired to give King's the 51-49 victory.
In terms of team statistics, the Valiants and Monarchs both shot 35% from the field as well as 30% from beyond the arc. Free throws proved to be costly for Manhattanville as they went 10-of-16 from the charity stripe while King's went 5-of-6 from the line. Rebounds were also close as Manhattanville picked up more boards than their guests by a 39-34 margin.
Individually the Valiants were led by Wilson in both points as well as steals, as she swiped the ball three times, while Vaiano also had three steals. Senior guard Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) led the team with six assists playing in 34 minutes off the bench.
Manhattanville (6-10, 1-5 Freedom) will look to get back in the win column on Wednesday night when they travel to Center Valley, Pa. to take on DeSales at 6:00 p.m. King's (14-3, 6-0 Freedom) will also return to action on Wednesday as they look to stay unbeaten in conference play with a home matchup against Misericordia also at 6:00 p.m.