Box Score
Click here to view the 2011-12 Manhattan Women's Basketball Yearbook
BUFFALO, N.Y. - The Manhattan College women's basketball team had one of its best defensive efforts of the season on Friday night. The Jaspers (16-13, 10-7 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) forced 25 turnovers and held Canisius (12-16, 6-11 MAAC), the best three-point shooting team in the MAAC, to 15 percent (3-of-20) from beyond the arc in a 50-40 victory at the Koessler Athletic Center. With the win, Manhattan clinched at least the No. 4 seed for next weekend's MAAC Tournament.
"This was two good defenses, which both did a nice job all night," Head Coach John Olenowski said. "Canisius made us work on every possession. I'm very happy that we pulled this game out."
With Manhattan leading 11-9 midway through the first half, Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont, N.Y.) sank a pair of free-throws to make it a four-point game. After Canisius got a jumper from Kayla Hoohuli to pull within two, 13-11, at the 6:33 mark, Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) drained a trey to start a 9-0 run that increased the Jaspers' advantage to 11 points, 22-11.
The Jaspers then scored nine quick points in the first two minutes of the second half to increase their lead to 33-13.
"Building that lead (early in the second half) was key," Olenowski said. "It allowed us to use the clock to our advantage late in the game."
Canisius whittled the 20-point margin down to 13 at 35-22 before a Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) layup sparked a 6-1 Manhattan rally that pushed the lead back to 18 points, 41-23, with 11:42 remaining. However, the Griffs responded with an 8-0 run of their own to make it a 10-point game, 41-31, with 6:51 to go.
The Jaspers again answered, though, getting a fast break layup from Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde Park, Mass.) and a pair of free throws by Peters to increase their advantage to 14 points, 45-31. Canisius put together one final spurt, cutting the margin to eight points, 46-38, on Jen Morabito's three-pointer with 2:13 left. Herrington and Halfkenny each drained a pair of free throws in the last minute to put the victory away before the Griffs' Ashley Wilkes added a late layup to make the final score 50-40.
Halfkenny led the Jaspers with 15 points, and she added six rebounds. Alyssa Herrington (Cambridge, N.Y.) tallied 10 points to go along with four assists and four steals, while Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) notched eight points, five boards and three steals. Lawrence grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. As a team, the Jaspers shot 31.8 percent (14-of-44) from the field, 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from three-point land, and 80 percent (16-of-20) from the charity stripe.
Jamie Ruttle had a game-high 16 points and added six rebounds for Canisius. Hoohuli added eight points and four steals, while Ashley Durham handed out four assists to go along with six rebounds. Wilkes pulled down a game-high eight boards, as the Griffs outrebounded the Jaspers 34-30. Canisius shot 34.8 percent (16-of-46) and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) at the free throw line.
With one game remaining in the regular season, the Jaspers hold a one-game lead over Loyola for third place in the MAAC standings. Manhattan secures the No. 3 seed for the MAAC Tournament with a victory over Niagara (11-18, 8-9 MAAC) in the regular season finale at the Gallagher Center on Sunday at 2 p.m. Manhattan also locks up the No. 3 seed if Marist beats Loyola in Baltimore.
NOTES: The Jaspers picked up their fifth straight victory over the Griffs...Canisius leads the all-time series 28-22...Manhattan has won at Canisius in back-to-back years for the first time in program history...It was Manhattan's last scheduled night game of the season...The Jaspers held their opponent under 50 points for the ninth time this season...Canisius came into the game with a three-point percentage of .356...The Jaspers are guaranteed to finish with a winning record for the second consecutive season, the first time they've done that since the 2001-02 and 2002-03 campaigns...Manhattan has won at least 10 MAAC games in three successive seasons for the first time in program history.
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