PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team fell 15 seconds shy of going wire-to-wire in a key Freedom Conference victory over the Wilkes Colonels on Saturday afternoon by the score of 74-64 at Kennedy Gymnasium. The Valiants were led by senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), who had 29 points and tied a career-high with 13 rebounds for the second straight game.
 
In addition to Wilson, sophomore Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Saviour) netted 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds, while classmate Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) had 12 points and freshman Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) had a 10-point effort.
 
The game started out with a bang for Manhattanville as Wilson drained back-to-back three-pointers to get the Valiants going just under two minutes into the game. After Elena Stambone ended the run with a basket for the Colonels to close the gap to 6-2, Manhattanville hit a free throw and Wilkes another field goal from Stambone at 16:34, which proved to be the only scoring for some time until Wilkes pulled to within one with 14:48 to go in the opening half.
 
Several possessions later, Wilkes took its only lead of the game at 12:52 when it took a 10-8 lead but was answered back by Wilson, who hit another three-pointer to put the Valiants in the lead for the remainder of the contest. Manhattanville worked the lead up to seven points after freshman Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career) put up a layup followed by a Raaf three-pointer to give Manhattanville a workable lead with still plenty of time to go in the period.
 
Wilkes was able to pull within three with 7:21 remaining in the half, but again it was Manhattanville to answer back and balloon the lead up to 10 after Wilson converted a pair from the free throw line. Both teams exchanged several baskets through the remainder of the half as the Valiants took a seven-point edge into the halftime break.
 
After the intermission, Wilkes went on a 10-4 run to start off the second period and pulled to within one once again after Stambone drilled a three-pointer. Lindsey Chester of Wilkes tied the game with a free throw, and several minutes later Wilson hit a layup for the Valiants to give the home team a lead through the remainder of the contest.
 
Caiazzo and Pabon got in on the scoring action through the middle stages of the second half to work the Manhattanville lead up to eight points with 11:17 to go in the contest. After a three-pointer by Wilkes closed the gap to within two, the Valiants rattled off a 13-0 run as Caiazzo, Pabon and Franklin scored during the stretch to give Manhattanville its largest lead at 15 points.
 
Down the stretch of the contest, Wilkes was only able to get the Valiant lead under 10 just twice down the stretch as Manhattanville hung on for the 10-point Freedom Conference victory as Pabon sealed the game with a free throw to finish off the game.
 
As a team Manhattanville had its best shooting night of the season with a 51.9% from the field, including a 5-of-13 night from beyond the arc. In the losing effort Wilkes had an ice-cold contest shooting 28.6% from the floor on a day that saw the Colonels take 84 shots from the floor, the third highest-total for the Colonels this season.
 
Manhattanville (10-10, 3-7 Freedom) keeps its playoff hopes alive with the win heading into the next Freedom Conference contest on Wednesday evening in Center Valley, Pa. against the DeSales Bulldogs. Wilkes (10-10, 2-8 Freedom) heads back home for its final non-conference contest of the season against Keystone College on Monday night, before resuming conference play on Wednesday at home against FDU-Florham.