Box Score
NEW YORK - Trailing by three points with 11 seconds left, the Manhattan College women's basketball team had a pair of chances to send the game into overtime on Tuesday evening, but Alyssa Herrington's (Cambridge, N.Y.) trey missed the mark and Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine) had her three-point attempt blocked as time expired, giving Columbia (3-1) a 69-66 victory over the Lady Jaspers (2-2) at Levien Gymnasium.
Columbia broke a 64-64 tie with a three-pointer by Sara Yee with 35 seconds remaining. After Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) missed a three for the Lady Jaspers, Michelle Pacheco (Bronx, N.Y.) grabbed the rebound and drove for an uncontested layup to cut the Lions' lead to one, 67-66, with 14 seconds left. Manhattan Head Coach John Olenowski called his final timeout, then Loutsenhizer fouled Yee to stop the clock with 11 seconds to go. Yee made both free throws to put Columbia up three. The Lady Jaspers were able to set up the look they wanted, a Herrington trey from the top of the key, but the attempt bounced off the front rim. Wentworth kept Manhattan's hopes alive when she grabbed the rebound and hustled to the right wing, but Kathleen Barry came out to deflect the shot at the buzzer and give the Lions the win.
After the Lions led 32-26 at halftime, Columbia opened the second half on a 10-4 run to open up a 12-point, 42-30 advantage with 16:06 remaining. The Lady Jaspers responded with a 15-1 rally of their own, and took a 45-43 lead on a running layup by Wentworth midway through the period. Columbia took a 56-51 lead on Melissa Shafter's three-pointer at the 7:36 mark, but Manhattan again responded, getting a trey from Herrington and a Pacheco layup to tie the score with 6:30 remaining. Neither team was able to take an advantage of more than a basket the rest of the way, as there were seven ties and four lead changes in the second half. Yee's trey with 35 seconds left broke the final tie of the game, a 64-64 deadlock.
The frantic finish was a sharp contrast to the first half, where each team used its defense to control the action. Manhattan scored the first four points of the game, but Columbia quickly rallied back to take a six-point edge, 14-8, at the 12:48 mark. After the Lady Jaspers came back to tie it at 19-19 with 5:20 left in the half, the Lions outscored Manhattan 12-2 over the next four minutes to build a 31-21 lead. The Lady Jaspers pulled within five after a pair of Pacheco free throws and a Herrington three-pointer, then Tyler Simpson drained a foul shot for Columbia to give the Lions a 32-26 advantage at intermission. Manhattan had six blocks in the first half, and Columbia recorded seven steals in the first 20 minutes.
Loutsenhizer tallied a game-high 16 points and added a season-high nine rebounds for the Lady Jaspers. Herrington had 12 points on four three-pointers, while Pacheco finished with 11 points and a career-high nine assists. Wentworth was the fourth Manhattan starter to reach double figures with 10 points. Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) tallied eight points, three assists and four blocks before fouling out, and Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont, N.Y.) recorded seven points and five rebounds. The Lady Jaspers shot 41.4 percent (24-of-58) from the field, but just 28.6 percent (4-of-14) from downtown. Manhattan shot a season-best 82.4 percent (14-of-17) at the free throw line.
Barry led the Lions with 15 points. She added six rebounds, five steals and two blocks. Judie Lomax recorded a double-double with 14 points and 15 boards, while Lauren Dwyer tallied 14 points and eight rebounds. Yee contributed eight points, all within the final 3:40, for the Lions, and Danielle Browne posted six assists and seven rebounds. Columbia shot 33.8 percent (25-of-74) from the field, 25 percent (7-of-28) from beyond the arc, and 75 percent (12-of-16) at the charity stripe. The Lions outrebounded the Lady Jaspers 47-38, including a 27-15 advantage on the offensive glass.
The Lady Jaspers are back in action on Saturday, when they visit Sacred Heart (1-2) at 2 p.m. Last season at Draddy Gymnasium, Manhattan posted a 68-62 victory over the eventual Northeast Conference champion Pioneers. Sacred Heart plays at Stony Brook on Tuesday night.
NOTES: It was the first meeting between the Lady Jaspers and Lions since Nov. 19, 2006, and the first on the Columbia campus since Dec. 10, 1999...Manhattan leads the all-time series 8-5...Manhattan hasn't won at Columbia since the 1997-98 season...The last two Manhattan-Columbia contests at Levien Gymnasium have been decided by a combined four points...The game began a span where the Lady Jaspers play four out of five on the road...Four Lady Jaspers reached double figures in scoring for the second consecutive contest, the first time that has happened since the final two games of last season...Pacheco had tallied her previous career-high of eight assists in each of the last two games...Lawrence tied her career-high with seven points and played a career-high 23 minutes...Manhattan's first three games were decided by a combined 85 points, and the closest margin of victory in those contests was Virginia's 18-point, 86-68 win.
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