DIX HILLS, N.Y. — Top-seeded Five Towns College held off a late comeback bid by No. 2 Berkeley College, winning 58-56, to capture the 2022 Hudson Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship on Sunday afternoon at Five Towns College.

The Sound (11-5) win their first league title and have already received an at-large bid to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association National Championship.

Sophomore Jordan Tobin (Massapequa, N.Y./Amityville) was named Tournament MVP filling up the middle grabbing a game-high 12 rebounds and chipped in 10 points for a double-double. Senior Essence Rayford (North Aurora, Ill./West Aurora) paced Five Towns with 20 points, five steals, four rebounds, and three assists.

Freshman Cierra Highland (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bedford Academy) led Berkeley (3-12) and shared game-high honors with Rayford scoring 20 points. She also filled up the box score with eight rebounds, six steals, and two assists. Junior Amal Mahmoud (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bedstuy Prep) recorded an 11-point, 10-rebound double-double.

The Knights took an early 12-4 lead in the first before the Sound held them to just six more points for the next 13 minutes and led 27-18 at the half.

Five Towns grew their lead to 16 on multiple occasions in the third but Berkeley closed out the final 3:36 on a 7-0 spurt to trim their deficit to six, 43-37, headed to the final quarter.

A tenuous fourth quarter saw the Knights close to a one-possession game, 53-50, at 2:27 after Highland scored five-straight points. An Essence three-point play with just over a minute to play pushed the Five Towns lead back to six, 56-50. Trailing 58-55 with five seconds left and no timeouts left, Highland split a pair at the free-throw line and secured her own rebound after missing the second and fired a right-corner three-pointer for a game-winning buzzer-beater attempt that would draw iron. 

With their first conference crown in tow, Five Towns heads to Richmond, Virginia as the No. 9 seed for the USCAA Division II National Championship. The Sound will face No. 8 Penn State Beaver in the opening round on Monday, March 7.

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2022 HVIAC Women's Basketball Championship

at Five Towns College

Tournament Central

Championship

Sunday, February 27
#1 Five Towns def. #2 Berkeley, 58-56

Tournament & Regular Season Champion

Five Towns College

Tournament Runner-Up 

Berkeley College

Tournament MVP

Jordan Tobin, Five Towns

Past Champions

• 2020: Albany Pharmacy
• 2019: Davis
• 2018: New Rochelle
• 2017: Albany Pharmacy
• 2016: Albany Pharmacy
• 2015: St. Joseph's
• 2014: New Rochelle
• 2013: St. Joseph's
• 2012: Albany Pharmacy
• 2011: Albany Pharmacy
• 2010: St. Joseph's
• 2009: St. Elizabeth's
• 2008: Mount Saint Vincent
• 2007: Mount Saint Vincent
• 2006: St. Joseph's
• 2005: Mount Saint Vincent
• 2004: Purchase