PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Valiant women's basketball team had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation but came up a bucket short in suffering a 53-52 defeat to Freedom Conference member DeSales University on Wednesday night at Kennedy Gymnasium. Freshman Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y.) scored a career-high 19 points on three of four shooting from the outside and four of five from the free throw line. Junior guard Simona Gordon (Cambridge, Mass.) also had the hot hand tonight as she added 14 points and 11 rebounds to go with four assists and five steals. The Valiants got added offense from the bench as freshman Janetta Arnold (Windsor, Conn.) finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. The Bulldogs attacked the Valiants off the tip scoring the first nine points until the Valiants cracked the board at the 16:20 mark as Gordon connected on a layup. The Valiants trailed for the entire half, but cut the lead to a single possession on a few occasions as Gordon made a layup with 12:44 putting the score at 10-7. In the latter part of the first half sophomore Carol Ortiz (Naugatuck, Conn.) added two of her six points in the contest with a jumper cutting the lead at two with 4:09 left. Sophomore Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y.), Wilson and Gordon helped the team within a possession as the first half ended but a three pointer by Megan Montchyk allowed DeSales to enter the locker room ahead by six. Gordon led the Valiants in the first half with 10 points as Wilson and Arnold trailed with eight and five points. Bulldog guard Colleen Gavin added 11 points for her team off the bench as DeSales shot 48 percent from the field and Manhattanville struggled shooting 37 percent. DeSales owned the glass in the half and outrebounded the Valiants by six. Once again the Bulldogs used an 8-0 run to begin the half as they led by 14 with 15:38 remaining after Gavin added her 13th point of the contest. Manhattanville played catch-up in the second half, cutting the deficit to single digits with 6:20 remaining as Wilson drove the lane for a layup under the basket followed by a free throw to complete a three-point play. She then floated up another shot with 4:30 left after Lori Lidlow hit a shot for the Bulldogs inside the paint. Manhattanville finished a 6-0 run that made the score a one-possession game as Arnold and Gordon both made layups after grabbing rebounds. Lidlow made two free throws with 2:49 remaining putting the Bulldogs up five. Manhattanville bounced back as Ortiz posted up in the paint with 1:45 left, answering back for the Valiants as they trailed by three.  Gavin made the front end of a pair of free throws to give DeSales a four-point lead, but Wilson drilled a fade away three pointer with under a minute left to get the Valiants within one at 53-52.  DeSales wound down the clock but Lidlow missed a shot, allowing the Valiants to have possession for the final shot.  Manhattanville used their final timeout and set a play for Gordon, but a tough zone defense set by the Bulldogs did not allow her a clean shot resulting in a missed layup with time expiring. Manhattanville finished the contest shooting nearly identical as the Bulldogs, with DeSales finishing a percentage higher at 34 percent from the field. The Valiants made four shots from the outside and even out-rebounded them by two (41-39). 

Manhattanville (13-7, 7-2 Freedom) will be back on the road this weekend as they will head to Wilkes University on Saturday for a 1 p.m. tipoff. DeSales (11-9, 6-3 Freedom) will host Delaware Valley on Saturday at 1 p.m.