Purchase, N.Y.:  The Manhattanville women's basketball team nearly staged a furious comeback but came up just a few points short in a 67-63 loss to Ramapo on Monday night at Kennedy Gym. Ramapo improves to 3-1 wile the Vliants fall to 2-3 overall.

Sophomore Courtney Turner (Staten Island, N.Y.) led the team with 16 points and pulled down seven rebounds for the Valiants. Junior Simona Gordon (Cambridge, Mass.) and sophomore Carol Ortiz (Naugatuck, Conn.) finished with 12 points each, while Ortiz had a team-high eight boards.

The Valiants jumped out to a 16-4 lead to start the contest, thanks in large part to a run of 10 consecutive Valiant points over a span of 2:22 early in the half. Gordon netted five Manhattanville points during the run on a pair of free throws and a three-pointer, while sophomore Kelli Hyjek (Tolland, Conn.) added a layup and freshman Taylor Wilson (Pearl River, N.Y.) drained one from beyond the arc as well.

Ramapo battled back to lower the deficit to four at 21-17 with 8:15 remaining in the first half, but the Valiants always stayed at least one possession ahead for the remainder of the frame and went into halftime with a 28-22 edge.

In the first half, Manhattanville shot 47.6 percent (10 for 21) from the floor, while holding Ramapo to just 8-for-29 (27.6 percent) shooting from the floor.

The Roadrunners came out in the second half with a quick 12-0 run to take a 34-30 lead after Meghan Reilly (Morganville, NJ) hit a jumper. Both teams battled back and forth during the mid part of the half until Ramapo took their largest lead of the contest, 60-51 with 2:52 remaining in the contest after a free throw was made by Reilly. The Valiants cut the lead to eight with 1:44 remaining in the contest after Ortiz scored on a layup.

The Valiants tried their hardest to fight back in the remaining minute and a half of regulation, but a technical foul on the team hurt their chances of making a comeback. Manhattanville was forced to foul in the final 90 seconds of regulation but caught a break as Ramapo went 5-10 from the line allowing the Valiants to cut the lead to from a 10 point deficit to four as Turner made a layup and Gordon hit a layup and a pair of free throws. A poor finish to the contest cost the Valiants as they missed three layups in the final six seconds of regulation.

Stephanie Cannizzaro (Pequannock, NJ) led all scorers with 18 points after shooting 6-12 from the line, 2-3 from the outside and 4-6 from the line. Lindsey Gripenburg (Bloomingdale, NJ) finished second for Ramapo with 17 points as she went 7-8 from the line. Manhattanville shot 37.5 percent (21-56) from the floor, while Ramapo shot 45.8 percent (22-48) from the field. The Valiants shot slightly better than their opposition from the line connecting on 64.3 percent, while Ramapo shot 62.5 percent from the line.

Ramapo will return to action when they host NJAC rival William Paterson University on Wednesday at 5:30 PM.