CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team window to make the playoffs shrunk considerably on Wednesday evening as the Valiants fell to the DeSales Bulldogs by the score of 72-64 at Billera Hall.
 
Sophomore Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Saviour) had a superb evening as she put up 23 points while pulling down a career-high 24 rebounds on the evening. For Caiazzo, the 24 rebounds was third all-time on the single-game records list four shy of the record set in February of 1987 by Lori Thiemann '89.
 
Senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River) also added 22 points, including 20 in the second half to reach 1,153 for her career as she continues the push her way towards the top-nine on the all-time scoring list. Wilson also fell one rebound shy of her fourth double-double of the season.
 
DeSales took a quick 6-0 lead until Wilson hit her only basket of the first half, but continued to pour on and open up an eight-point lead. The Valiants answered back and Caiazzo and freshman Ashley Franklin (New Haven, Conn./Hill Regional Career)put up a pair of layups to trim the lead back down to four at 14-10.
 
With 2:11 left in the game, junior Shauna Mulkerin (Branchburg, N.J./Immaculata) sank a fast-break layup to knot the game up at 26. The Bulldogs closed out the half on a 6-2 run and took a 32-28 lead into the halftime lead.
 
Caiazzo got the Valiants off to a quick start with a layup to pull Manhattanville back within two. DeSales continued to add and pull away through the early portion of the second half as Alexiah Grant put up a jumper to take a 47-33 lead with 15:30 to go in the second half.
 
Manhattanville went on a solid offensive stretch as freshman Ashley Raaf (Rockaway Beach, N.Y./Christ The King) converted on a pair of free throws, followed by a Franklin layup. Caiazzo had a layup, followed by one from Wilson, and Caiazzo finished the 10-0 run to put Manhattanville back in the game at 49-45 with 11:21 left in regulation.
 
With 8:01 to go, Wilson converted on a layup to give Manhattanville its first lead of the game at 53-52 but DeSales regained the lead and didn't relinquish the lead through the remainder of the contest. The Valiants did pull back within one, but the Bulldogs closed out the game on a 7-0 run to win by an eight-point margin.
 
The Valiants finished the game shooting 47.2% to DeSales' 35.5%. Two major differences in the game were on turnovers as DeSales gave the ball away 13 times while the Valiants gave it away 31 times. The Bulldogs made eight three-pointers, while Manhattanville sank three from beyond the arc.
 
Manhattanville (10-11, 3-8 Freedom) will play its final home game this Saturday when the team hosts King's as part of senior day where Wilson, and classmate Jennifer McSharar (Garnerville, N.Y./North Rockland) will be honored before the contest. DeSales (16-6, 8-3 Freedom) clinches a playoff berth with the victory, but will first tip-off against league-leading FDU-Florham on Saturday afternoon in Madison, N.J.