ITHACA, N.Y. - After trailing by as many as 12 points in the second half, the Manhattan College women's basketball team stormed back to take the lead at Cornell on Tuesday night. However, the Big Red immediately countered and the Jaspers couldn't respond, and Cornell (3-2) pulled away for a 70-60 victory over Manhattan (1-2) at Newman Arena.
Taylor Flynn's three-pointer put Cornell up 41-29 with 15:37 remaining in the contest before a layup by Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont, N.Y.) on the other end started the Manhattan comeback. After another Lawrence jumper and a Cornell turnover, Shayna Ericksen's (Hackettstown, N.J.) offensive rebound and put back trimmed the deficit to eight. A free throw by Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) made it a five-point game, 41-36, then an Ondya Morgan (New Brunswick, N.J.) layup and a Roeder jumper brought the Jaspers within one, 41-40. Manhattan forced a turnover on the ensuing Cornell possession, and Ericksen gave the Jaspers a 42-41 advantage when she converted a layup after grabbing her own offensive rebound.
Cornell went back in front on a layup by Allyson DiMagno, and the teams traded one-point leads five times in the next minute. After a Lawrence free throw knotted the score at 47-47, Allison Bockrath nailed a trey for the Big Red. Roeder hit a jumper on the other end to make it a one-point game once again, but Stephanie Long countered with a trey to start a 9-2 Cornell rally that extended the Big Red's lead to eight, 59-51, with 4:53 remaining.
Trailing 64-56 at the 2:15 mark, the Jaspers got jumpers from Morgan and Ashley Stec (Cazenovia, N.Y.) to trim the margin to four points, 64-60, with 49 seconds to play. However, with Manhattan forced to foul in order to stop the clock, Cornell went 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final minute to put away a 70-60 victory.
The Big Red held a seven-point lead, 29-22, at halftime. Manhattan quickly jumped out to an early 6-2 lead less than two minutes in before Cornell countered with a 5-0 rally to go ahead for the first time. Cornell used a 10-4 run midway through the period to turn a 9-9 game into a 19-13 advantage, but Roeder responded with five straight points to bring the Jaspers within one, 19-18. However, the Big Red immediately countered with a pair of threes, pushing the margin back to seven points, 25-18. Cornell increased the lead to nine, 29-20, before Lawrence sank a pair of foul shots to cut Manhattan's deficit to seven, 29-22, at intermission.
Ericksen posted a career-high 16 points to go along with a team-high six rebounds and three steals. Roeder also tallied 16 points, while Lawrence notched 13 points and five boards. Stec contributed a team-best four assists and Maggie Blair (Briarcliff, N.Y.) handed out three assists. Morgan recorded four steals for the Jaspers. Manhattan shot 39.7 percent (25-of-63) from the field and 70 percent (7-of-10) at the free throw line, but struggled from long range all night. The Jaspers went just 3-for-22 (13.6 percent) from downtown.
Flynn finished with 26 points, including five treys, and three assists to lead the Big Red. Long added 16 points, five rebounds and three assists, while DiMagno had a double-double with 13 points and 19 boards. Clare Fitzpatrick and Spencer Lane each dished out three assists for Cornell. Cornell shot 46.8 percent (22-of-47) from the field, 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from three-point land, and 84.2 percent (16-of-19) at the charity stripe. The Big Red also held a 44-24 advantage on the glass.
Four of Manhattan's next five contests will be at Draddy Gymnasium, with the only road game a trip across town for a meeting with Fordham. The Jaspers begin the home stretch with a 2 p.m. matchup against Fairleigh Dickinson (0-4) on Sunday. It will be the first meeting between the Jaspers and Knights since FDU notched a 60-59 overtime victory on Dec. 15, 2007.
NOTES: The teams met for the fourth straight season, and Cornell snapped Manhattan's two-game winning streak in the series, which now stands at 2-2...Manhattan used its second different starting lineup this season, with Blair getting the nod on Tuesday night...Blake Underhill (Ashland, Mass.) made her collegiate debut and tallied three points in eight minutes of action...Roeder has led the team in scoring in all three games this season...The Jaspers committed just 11 turnovers and had a positive assist/turnover ratio for the second straight game...Manhattan trailed at halftime for the first time this season.