PURCHASE, N.Y. – Sophomore Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) led Manhattanville with 18 points, while senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) had 17, sophomore Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Saviour) had 16 and freshman Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) had 13 points to lead the Manhattanville women's basketball team to a 79-66 victory over the Old Westbury Panthers from Kennedy Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon.
 
Caiazzo also finished the game with a career-best 23 rebounds for her 10th double-double in 11 tries this season. More impressive was Caiazzo's seven blocked shots in the game, which tied the single-game record for blocked shots in a single contest, she tied Chioma Udeogalanya, who also had seven back in February of 2004. Wilson also finished the game with 11 boards for her second double-double of the season.
 
Old Westbury opened up the contest with a quick 5-0 run, but Wilson broke the streak with a layup after taking a pass from Pabon. Caiazzo then added a layup to trim the lead to one, but the Panthers refused to give up the lead as they held on through the first five minutes of the half. A layup by Caiazzo at 14:50 tied the game at 12 apiece, followed by a layup by Wilson to give Manhattanville a lead it didn't give back the rest of the contest.
 
With 13:20 to go Raaf hit a three pointer from the right elbow, and was fouled in the process but was unable to complete the four-point play. Old Westbury came within two once again, but Manhattanville responded quickly with five unanswered and opened up a seven-point edge. The lead teetered between three and seven points until the final basket of the half, sunk by Raaf to give the Valiants an eight-point lead heading into halftime.
 
After the break, Raaf picked right back up where she left off as she hit another layup to give the home team its first double-digit lead of the game at 38-28. Pabon and sophomore Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) hit baskets of their own to answer shots sunk by the Panthers to keep the lead at 10. Freshman Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) got in on the action with a layup and the ensuing and-one free throw to put Manhattanville up by a 45-32 margin with 14:36 to go in the game.
 
Wilson hit her first three-pointer of the contest just 20 seconds later and gave the Valiants a 48-32 lead. Old Westbury was able to shrink the growing lead back down to 13, but Franklin and Raaf hit a pair of shots from the floor to put Manhattanville up 53-36.
 
Old Westbury again attempted a brief comeback, but it was thwarted by the Valiant offense as Caiazzo hit a pair from the floor to put Manhattanville up 18 with 10:15 remaining in regulation. The Panthers did get the contest back within 10 at the 5:52 point, but once again the Valiants had an answer with Pabon and Caiazzo answering right back.
 
After a three pointer by Clarissa Gallagher brought the Panthers back within 10 once again with 20 seconds to go, Old Westbury began to foul with time working against them. Wilson hit three of four free throws in the final 15 seconds of the game to ice the contest and give Manhattanville the convincing 13 point victory at 79-66.
 
As a team Manhattanville struggled in the first half as it went 13-for-44 from the field, but bounced back in the second half with a 13-for-32 effort as it finished the game shooting 34.2% in contrast to Old Westbury's 36.8%. Both teams shot in the mid-60's in regards to free throw percentage, while turnovers were also a big key in the game as the Panthers gave the ball away 31 times to the Valiants' 26.
Three players reached a minimum of four steals for Manhattanville as Wilson led the way with six, while Pabon and Caiazzo each had four.
 
Manhattanville (7-4, 0-2 Freedom) are off tomorrow but welcome in one of the top teams in the region when the William Paterson Pioneers come to Kennedy Gym for a Monday evening contest at 7:00 p.m. with coverage of the game available on GoValiants.TV. Old Westbury (4-6, 0-2 Skyline) will return to Skyline Conference action when it takes on the Dolphins of Mount Saint Vincent also on Monday at 5:30 p.m.