Buffalo, N.Y. (January 25, 2008) - The Lady Jaspers lost a close one at Canisius College today, despite a late second half push. Senior Gabrielle Cottrell led all Manhattan scorers with 12 points while Caitlin Flood and Abby Wenworth both finished the game with 10 points, respectively.
Manhattan was looking to win their first game at Koessler Athletic Center in four years. At the start of the game, Canisius came out strong as Manhattan did not score their first field goal until the 14:34 mark of the first half. The Lady J's had trouble getting their offense as not many buckets were falling their way. A three pointer by senior Aubrie Dellinger with 5:35 remaining in the half looked like it was going to spark the Lady Jaspers to make a run. Despite holding Canisius to one point in the final 4:33 of the half, Manhattan went into the locker room staring at a large deficit, 29-17. The Lady J's were going to need to come out strong in order to overtake Canisius at home in the second half.
Caitlin Flood led the Lady J's with five points but it wasn't going to be enough as Manhattan needed to search for an answer to the Golden Griffs offense.
Manhattan came out strong, going on a 4-0 run to open the second half. But Canisius answered back and tried to keep the Lady Jaspers at a distance. But the Lady J's slowly chipped away at the lead as they held the Golden Griffins scoreless nearly three minutes. After a pair of free throws by Flood the Lady Jaspers were no staring at a six point deficit, 43-37 with 3:23 left to play in the game. A lay-up by freshman Nicole Harrison cut that lead to five, 45-40 with just over two minutes to play. With Manhattan inching closer, Wentworth drained two free throws which now put the Lady Jaspers down three with 1:51 showing on the clock.
Both teams' defense were having a strong showing as they were coming into the final minute of play. After Canisius' Amanda Cavo hit two free throws, Cottrell came down and hit a deep three pointer to put Manhattan down two with just 31 seconds left in the game. Following another pair of throws by the Golden Griffins, Wenworth hit a clutch three pointer which made it a one point game, 49-48. With 10 seconds left Cavo again hit two more free throws for Canisius and gave them a three point lead, 51-48 with Manhattan getting the final possession. With timing running down, Cottrell threw up an off balanced three pointer that fell short and let the Golden Griffins escape with a victory.
Flood narrowly missed a double-double grabbing nine boards to go along wit her 10 points. Wentworth also pushed the line on a double-double grabbing eight boards on the night. Despite the loss, Manhattan only committed 11 turnovers in the entire game while forcing 17 Canisius turnovers. Wentworth shot 2-3 from behind the three point arc for Manhattan.
The Lady Jaspers fall to 11-8 overall and a 6-2 conference record. Manhattan will continue their Western New York swing as they will take on Niagara University on Sunday, January 27 in Niagara University, N.Y. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.
