PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College women's basketball team enjoyed a victorious Senior Day on Sunday afternoon in Kennedy Gymnasium, winning their regular-season finale over Yeshiva by a final of 85-28. The Valiants will now turn their focus to next week's Skyline Conference Championship Tournament, holding the No. 1 overall seed with a 22-3 overall record and finishing 19-1 against the Skyline, now winners of 12 straight games.
Prior to opening tip-off, the team honored the graduating Class of 2024—Jamison Agostino (Stony Brook, N.Y./Ward Melville), Livi Correia (North Attleboro, Mass./Worcester Academy), Angela Downey (Lyndhurst, N.J./Lyndhurst), Juliana Kascic and Kristen Scrobola (Cortlandt Manor, N.Y./Walter Panas High School)—for their lasting contributions to the program. The five were all key pieces in this year's regular season success that set a new record for most conference wins.
The senior class were further honored by each getting the start in the game, combining for 54 of the team's points. Kascic led the scoring output with 19, her highest scoring output since putting up 20 against Old Westbury on Jan. 27. The North Bergen native shot .600 from the field, including drilling her first-career three-pointer to open up the scoring in the fourth quarter.
Agostino finished with 15 points, scoring all on five shots from beyond the arc. She concludes the regular season with 71 three-pointers, eight shy of her single-season record from a year ago and 10 away from tying the career record held by Spencer Shore '22. Downey scored 12, while Scrobola and Correia both ended the day with four points each. Corriea continued to be an offensive catalyst as she has all season with six assists.
Niyona Smith (Baltimore, MD/Concordia Prep) thrived in her 15 minutes on the floor, posting a 12 point, 12 rebound double-double in the limited action. It was the junior's sixth double-double of the season. Kascic pulled down eight boards, while Agostino finished with six. Smith also led the Valiants with four steals while blocking a shot.
Just three days removed from their 12 point win on the road over the same Yeshiva squad, the Valiants looked like a completely different team as they held the Maccabees to a season-low point total. Yeshiva shot 24 percent on the day, going just 1-for-19 from deep. The Valiants limited the Maccabees to just two points, both coming off free throws, in the first quarter to set the tone early. Agostino got the scoring started with her first three of the day which was answered by Jasmin Maly-Danker's pair of free throws. From there, it was all Valiants for the next seven and a half minutes as the team ended the quarter on a 14-0 run, with Downey leading the streak with five of the points.
The Maccabees hit their first field goal of the game 14 seconds into the second courtesy of Abigail Koenig, but the Valiants continued to pull away with another 14-0 run. A Scrobola layup capped off the scoring to put the Valiants up 31-4 with 4:42 remaining. Shai Rahamim got the Macs back on the scoreboard to end the Manhattanville hot streak with a jumper, only hindering the Valiants momentarily. The home squad took a 29-point advantage into the half, leading 37-8 through 20 minutes.
Shooting just 17 percent in the first half, the Maccabees found better success in the closing half with a .296 clip, but Manhattanville continued firing on all cylinders, shooting 48 percent to close out the win. The Valiants outscored Yeshiva 21-6 in the third quarter, leading 58-14 entering the fourth. The team somehow managed to get better as the game went on as Manhattanville shot 60 percent in the fourth for a game-high 27 points. Kascic opened up the final quarter with her first collegiate three-pointer to put the Valiants up by 47. A 10-0 run later in the period swelled the lead up to 80-21, before a Gwen Merrifield (Plymouth, NH/Plymouth Regional High School) layup with 1:23 remaining had Manhattanville up a game-high 61.
Up Next
The Valiants will return to the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament for a fourth-consecutive season, this year holding the No. 1 seed. Manhattanville will host the winner of the No. 4 Saint Joseph's Long Island-No. 5 Merchant Marine first round matchup for the semifinals on Thursday. Additional information regarding game time and ticket purchasing will be available on GoValiants.com later in the week.