The Bear Facts

SJC Brooklyn seeks their first win of the new year against second-place Manhattanville after suffering a pair of defeats this week to Old Westbury and Farmingdale State to open 2022.

Grace Kennedy led the way for the navy and gray, dropping 21.5 points and collecting 7.5 boards in the two-game stretch. The rookie recorded her first career double-double against the Panthers thanks to a 25-point, 12-rebound showing on Tuesday night. Alexis Breen put up 23 points of her own as the pair played all 40 minutes on Monday night.

The duo also dropped double figures against the Rams on Thursday. Kennedy finished with 18 off the bench while Breen recorded her first career double-double totaling 13 points, 11 assists, and six rebounds. Emma Kiley scored a team-high 21 points in 28 minutes to go with five caroms and four rejections. Fatima Monsour came up with 10 rebounds, her third game with double-digit rebounds.

Breen (12.0 ppg) and Kennedy (11.5 ppg) climbed up the team’s leaderboard in scoring with big efforts this week and the Bears now boast four players averaging double-digit scoring with Kelly O’Donnell (16.4 ppg) and Kiley (15.5 ppg) leading the squad. O’Donnell remains the Bears’ leading rebounder as her 10.3 boards per outing are good for third in the Skyline. 

When Manhattanville last visited The Hill Center in January 2020, O'Donnell (17 pts, 9 reb), Kiley (10 pts, 8 reb), and Jamie Provino (11 pts, 6 reb) combined for 38 points to hand the Valiants just their second loss of that season in a 57-54 triumph. Today's meeting is just the fourth all-time and third since the Valiants rejoined the league.

Valiant Vibes

Following a pair of postponements in early January, Manhattanville will make their 2022 debut against SJC Brooklyn, ending a 35-day layoff. The 9-2 Valiants were on the losing end of an 80-67 home result to Gwynedd Mercy their last time out on December 11. Ali Mikaele logged her third consecutive double-double thanks to a 15-point, 11-rebound effort against the Griffins while fellow senior Faith Johnson-Desilva finished with 12 points. Kristen Scrobola posted eight points and as many boards.

At 5-1, Manhattanville currently sits second in the Skyline trailing league-unbeaten Mount Saint Mary at 7-0 by a half a game. In their last conference outing against Yeshiva, graduate student Spencer Shore dropped a game-high 18 points to go with four steals, four caroms, and three assists. Mikaele went for 12 points and 12 boards in the triumph while Claudia Valentin’s 13 points rounded out a Valiant trio in double figures.

The Valiants are the highest-scoring offense in the Skyline with 81.5 points per game. They also lead the conference with a 41.8 field goal percentage per game, 0.97 assist to turnover ratio, and 24.91 forced turnovers per outing.

Shore leads the team in scoring with 14 points per game, cracking the top 15 of the conference with Mikaele (13.2 ppg). Johnson-Desliva’s 3.4 assists per game are good for ninth in the league. On the glass, Niyona Smith (7.6) and Mikaele (7.5) are the team’s leading rebounders per game.