BOX SCORE

Center Valley, PA (December 2, 2009) – For the second straight game the DeSales University women's basketball team scored just 48 points and shot below 30.0 percent for the game as the Bulldogs dropped their Freedom Conference season opener, 60-48, to Manhattanville College in a rematch of last year's Freedom Conference title game.

The Bulldogs (3-2, 0-1 Freedom) just couldn't put points on the board for the second straight game and despite another solid defensive effort, DeSales found itself on the wrong end of the scoreboard, shooting just 28.6 percent and committing 22 turnovers in the loss. Manhattanville (3-3, 1-0 Freedom) shot 40.7 percent from the field, including an efficient 4-for-7 from three-point land to earn its first-ever win over DeSales in eight career meetings.

The game was extremely tight for almost the entire first half with DeSales clinging to as much as a four-point lead throughout before the offense went cold and MVille capitalized with a 14-3 run over the final 4:17 of the half to turn a 23-20 deficit into a 34-27 lead. During the spurt, turnovers did the Bulldogs in as they committed five costly miscues and took just two shots (both misses), while the Valiants took advantage of the turnovers, racing down court for several easy looks at the basket.

When the half finally came to an end, MVille had 34 points, 16 of which came off 15 DSU turnovers, while DeSales was unable to take advantage of 10 Valiant turnovers, scoring just one point.

The second half saw DeSales chip away at the lead. Junior Lori Lidlow (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) hit an early three cutting the lead to six points and senior Caitlin Miller (Fogelsville, PA/Northwestern Lehigh) went to work on the low post later in the half with four quick points to pull DeSales within two at 42-40, with 11:27 left to play.

Both teams went scoreless over the next two minutes before MVille's Courtney Turner ended the drought with a three-pointer pushing the lead back to five points. Freshman Taylor Greene (Blairstown, NJ/North Warren) answered with a three to cut the margin down to four points and the deficit was just five with 5:56 to go after two Miller freebies before Simona Gordon and Nina Johnson scored eight straight points, pushing the lead up to 13 points (60-47) with 3:03 remaining, and DeSales finished the game with just one point over the final 5:56.

DSU did a nice job on the boards, out-rebounding Manhattanville, 39-33, for the game. Sophomore Cherelle Simmons (Lancaster, PA/JP McCaskey) and Miller were the lone bright spots for the Bulldogs. Simmons finished with her first career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 17 rebounds, while Miller added 14 points and pulled down eight boards. Lidlow finished with 11 points and five steals, but had seven turnovers on the offensive end.

Carey Hickey led the Valiant attack with a nice all-around game of 13 points, six rebounds, and six assists, while Turner added 12 points and Gordon finished with 11 tallies. Johnson came off the bench to score nine points and grab five boards.

The Bulldogs are back into Freedom Conference play on Saturday with an important road game at Delaware Valley College beginning at 1:00 pm. For those unable to attend you can follow the game's progress via LIVE stats provided by the Aggies which can be accessed online on the DeSales women's basketball schedule page on gameday.