Riverdale, N.Y. (December 22, 2007) ? The Lady Jasper faced their first loss as the Draddy Gymnasium today with a 78-57 loss to the University of Vermont. Senior Caitlin Flood led all Manhattan scorers with 19 off of 6-12 shooting from the field, while also grabbing six rebounds on the day.
It was going to have to be a team effort today as the 7-3 Catamounts came to Riverdale to take on Manhattan in a non-conference game. At the start of the game, the Lady J's found themselves in an early deficit, down 13-4. Over the next two minutes, the ladies got it going with a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to three and trail 13-10. The Lady Jaspers kept it close as they were down 22-20 with just under five minutes to play in the first half. Sophomore Michelle Pacheco sank a running lay-up to tie the game up at 22. Both teams were battling it out as Gabrielle Cottrell hit a huge three pointer to tie the notch the score up at 30 points a piece. The Lady J's went into the locker room with the scoreboard showing a four point deficit, 34-30. Both Flood and Cottrell were perfect from the free throw line as they were doing all they could to keep the score game close.
With the second half underway, Vermont came out strong and stretched their lead to nine, 44-35 with 14:32 let to play. The Lady Jaspers could not overcome the deficit as Vermont cruised the rest of the way to a victory. With this loss, the Lady J's drop to a 7-5 overall record.
Cottrell added nine points for the Lady Jaspers alongside Pacheco's six points. As a team Manhattan shot 75% from the free throw line in today's game.
Manhattan will return to action after the holiday on December 30, where they will wrap-up the 2007 year with a home game against Villanova University. Game time is schedule for 2:00 p.m.
