Box Score
Box Score
WORCESTER, Mass. – After trailing by as many as nine points in the second half, the Manhattan College women's basketball team (1-1) stormed back to post a 66-60 win over Holy Cross (0-1) at the Hart Center on Sunday afternoon. Shayna Ericksen (Long Valley, N.J.) had her second straight double-double to start the season, finishing with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
The Jaspers were down 53-44 with 8:52 remaining before Nyasha Irizarry (Brooklyn, N.Y.) hit a layup and was fouled, then converted the free throw to make it a six-point game, 53-47. After a jumper by Ashley Stec (Cazenovia, N.Y.) and a Taylor Williams (Windsor, Conn.) layup cut the deficit to two, back-to-back Ericksen buckets capped the 11-0 rally and gave Manhattan a 55-53 lead with 3:39 remaining. Holy Cross responded with a three-pointer to go back in front, and the teams exchanged one-point leads for the next four possessions.
With the Jaspers up 59-58, Jacqui Thompson (Southampton, Pa.) drained a pair of free throws at the 1:25 mark to make it a three-point game, 61-58. After Molly Hourigan hit a jumper for the Crusaders, Williams missed a three with 32 seconds left, but Irizarry grabbed the offensive rebound. She handed off to Thompson, who was fouled. Thompson made the front end of the one-and-one to bring the margin back to two points, but the second was short.
However, Ericksen corralled the rebound and was pushed out of bounds with 18 seconds to go. The officials ruled it was an intentional foul, meaning Manhattan would get two shots and the ball. Ericksen made both free throws to increase the lead to four, then went 1-for-2 at the line on the ensuing possession to run the Jaspers' advantage to five points, 65-60. Blake Underhill (Edgewater, N.J.) then hit a free throw at the five-second mark to cap the scoring in Manhattan's 66-60 victory.
“It was a great all-around effort by our team,” Head Coach John Olenowski said. “We had tremendous contributions from a lot of players. I was so happy that we kept our composure on the road, made our free throws, and played outstanding defense down the stretch. This was a huge win for our program.”
Holy Cross scored the first five points of the game and led 9-4 before a Thompson floater, followed by a Williams trey and an Ericksen jumper put Manhattan in front 11-9 with 13:48 left in the first half. The Crusaders went back in front on a Kate Gillespie three-pointer, but Ericksen countered with an offensive rebound and putback at the 12:34 mark to make it 13-12 in favor of the Jaspers.
A layup by Kayla Grimme (Altoona, Pa.) gave Manhattan a 17-14 lead with 8:34 remaining in the first half, but Gillsepie hit a three on the other end to start a 10-0 Holy Cross rally that put the Crusaders in front 24-17. The Jaspers pulled within three at 27-24 before Holy Cross ended the half on a 5-0 run to take a 32-24 advantage into the locker room.
The Crusaders' lead reached a game-high 11 points at 40-29 with 18:16 to go before Irizarry hit a three and Ericksen scored three straight baskets to pull Manhattan within two, 40-38. Holy Cross responded with a 9-2 run, though, opening up a 49-40 advantage at the 11:17 mark. After the Jaspers trimmed the margin to five, back-to-back Holy Cross buckets brought the lead back to nine, 53-44, with 8:52 to go.
Ericksen tallied 15 of her 23 points in the second half, while Irizarry finished with 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Stec contributed eight points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting, and Williams grabbed eight rebounds, as the Jaspers outrebounded the Crusaders 36-30. Manhattan shot 51 percent (26-of-51) from the floor, 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from downtown, and 73.3 percent (11-of-15) at the charity stripe.
Gillespie sank five three-pointers and finished with 23 points for the Crusaders. She also tallied five rebounds and five assists. Clare Sullivan added 12 points, while Lisa Mifsud recorded nine points and eight assists. Hourigan contributed eight points and 10 rebounds for Holy Cross, which shot 38.7 percent (24-of-62) from the field. The Crusaders went 9-for-24 (37.5 percent) from long range and 3-for-9 (33.3 percent) at the free throw line.
Up next, Manhattan takes on its second straight Patriot League opponent. The Jaspers welcome Army (0-1) to Draddy Gymnasium on Saturday for a 2 p.m. matchup. It will be Manhattan's only home contest in a seven-game span.
NOTES: Manhattan has now won back-to-back games at the Hart Center after losing in its first seven all-time trips to Holy Cross…The Jaspers snapped a two-game losing streak against the Crusaders, who lead the all-time series 12-9…Ericksen now has eight career double-doubles, and she has recorded three straight dating back to the final game of last season…The only previous time she registered consecutive double-doubles was on Jan. 3-6, 2013…Grimme was the last Jasper to have three straight double-doubles, doing so from Nov. 26-Dec. 6, 2013…Olenowski changed up the starting lineup, inserting Williams, Kylla Champagne (Paterson, N.J.) and Mikki Guiton (Schwenskville, Pa.) into the starting five…Grimme came off the bench for the first time in her career…This was the first of three straight games Manhattan will play against former Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) rivals…The Jaspers opened their road schedule with a victory for the second year in a row.
