PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville women's basketball team dropped its 2013 conference opener to the FDU-Florham Devils by a score of 84-64 on Wednesday evening from Kennedy Gym. The Valiants were led by senior Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y./Pearl River), who finished the game with 17 points, sophomore Bri Pabon (Newington, Conn./Newington) was second on the team with 15, while classmate Alyson Caiazzo (Brooklyn, N.Y/St. Saviour) added 10 of her own.
 
The game started out with Manhattanville taking an early 6-0 lead, as Pabon led the charge with three of the team's six points. At the 13:40 mark of the first half, Wilson hit a three-pointer to put the Valiants up by a nine-point margin at 13-4.
 
FDU-Florham charged back over the next several minutes and evened up the contest at 17 apiece with 6:02 remaining in the opening stanza. The Devils continued their run through the latter stages of the period and took a six point lead into the halftime break.
 
The Valiants fell behind by 10 on several occasions in the early going of the second half, then took an 11-point lead after a three-pointer by Kara Dayon at the 16:26 point of the period to move her team up to a 46-35 score.


Manhattanville pulled to within six after Wilson and Pabon spearheaded a 5-0 run. FDU-Florham ballooned its lead back up to 10, but again the Valiants pulled to within five as sophomore Shayna Robinson (Deer Park, N.Y./Deer Park) sunk a layup with 10:56 to go. Wilson then hit another three-point basket and brought Manhattanville back within two at 54-52 with 9:52 left in the contest.
 
The Devil lead see-sawed back and forth between two and six, but FDU-Florham continued to pile on to its lead and stretched the advantage to 20 by the end of the contest.
 
As a team Manhattanville shot 38.7% from the field, while FDU-Florham was able to hit 39.7% of its shots. Three-point baskets were also close as both teams sank three apiece, with the biggest difference of the game coming from the free throw line as Manhattanville went 14-of-25 to FDU-Florham's 22-of-32.
 
Manhattanville (7-6, 0-3 Freedom) will resume conference play on Saturday when it travels to King's to take on the Monarchs for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off. FDU-Florham (13-1, 3-0 Freedom) will also play on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when it travels to Dallas, Pa. to take on the Misericordia Cougars in a matchup of two of the top teams in the Freedom Conference.