WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – Senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) had a career-high 32 points in Saturday afternoon's Freedom Conference loss to the Wilkes Colonels by the score of 77-62. In the process of reaching her career-high, Wilson also became the 12th player in program history to reach the historic 1,000 career points mark.
 
Wilson becomes the third player in as many seasons and fourth player in the past five years to reach the plateau of four-digit scoring. Wilson joins former teammates Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y./Ralph McKee) '12 and Simona Gordon '11 to reach the mark in the past three seasons, while the all-time point scorer in Manhattanville history is Theresa Carey '82, who finished her career with 2,306 points in her four seasons with the Valiants.
 
For the game Wilson sank 11 shots from the floor, including three three-point baskets while converting on seven of eight free throws from the charity stripe to finish the game with 32 points. The rest of the team combined for the 30 points, as Manhattanville finished the game with 62 in its 15-point loss to the Colonels.
 
The game itself started off with Manhattanville netting the first basket of the game as sophomore Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Saviour) hit a layup just 11 seconds into the contest. As play continued through the first half, Wilkes opened up a six-point lead with a basket at the 16:07 mark by Chelsea Brown to pick up a 12-6 lead. Wilson helped bring the team back within two as she converted on her next two from the floor, and after a Wilkes free throw, Wilson drained a three-pointer to tie the game with 12:42 to go.
 
Through the latter stages of the first half, the Valiants worked up a seven-point lead as sophomore Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) and freshman Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) hit a pair from the field to put Manhattanville up 22-15. The lead continued to grow as Robinson hit another shot at the 5:19 mark to put Manhattanville up by 10. As Wilkes continued to hold the Valiants within 10, the Colonels hit a shot towards the end of the period just before Wilson sent the team into the locker room after dropping a three-pointer from beyond the arc to send Manhattanville to the locker room with a 38-27 lead.
 
After breaking down the situation in the locker room, Wilkes stormed out of the gates in the second half and scored the period's first 16 points to emerge with a 43-38 lead. Manhattanville was finally able to snap the streak with a free throw that was converted by Franklin at the 14:26 point of the half.
 
The next basket from either side proved to be the historic one for Wilson, as she hit a two-point jumper from the corner of the paint and dropped it home to make her the 12th player in program history to reach the millennium mark in terms of points for her career, but more importantly pulling the team within one possession of tying the contest.
 
However, the basket wasn't enough to spark the Valiant offense, but instead ignited an 8-2 run in favor of Wilkes to increase its lead back to eight. The Valiants closed to within two after sophomore Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) hit a layup then Caiazzo dropped one of two at the line, followed by another Pabon shot off the glass to make the score 57-55. The Colonels were able to finish the game off on a 20-7 run to pull away with the 77-62 victory.
 
As a team Manhattanville finished the game shooting 37.7% from the field, while Wilkes finished at a 35.5%. The difference in the game proved to be free throws and rebounds as Manhattanville converted on 13 while Wilkes hit 20, the rebounding margin was also well in favor of Wilkes at a 55-42 clip despite 11 from Caiazzo on the contest.

Manhattanville (7-7, 0-4 Freedom) will continue Freedom Conference play on Wednesday evening when it host the Delaware Valley Aggies at 6:00 p.m. with live stream of the game available on GoValiants.TV and live stats free of charge on GoValiants.com. Wilkes (10-4, 2-2 Freedom) will also play again on Wednesday when it hosts cross-town rival King's in a Freedom Conference matchup also at 6:00 p.m.