Box Score
Albany, NY - It was the end of the road for Manhattan as the Jaspers fell to #2 Marist 84-60 in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships on Friday, March 2 at the Times Union Center. Manhattan, the seventh seed in the tournament, finished the season 13-18 overall, a five-win improvement over last year's 8-22 finish, where the Jaspers lost to Monmouth in the first round of the MAAC tourney.
In another bright spot for the Jaspers, senior guard
Amani Tatum (Cambria Heights, NY / James Madison) scored her 1,000th point in a Manhattan uniform on a jumper in the opening minutes of the game. Tatum finishes her Manhattan career with 1,008 points, one of just 21 1,000-point scorers in program history. She added a team-high five assists against Marist, putting her at seventh all-time. Tatum completes her career with 255 steals, good for third all-time.
On Friday, Manhattan's offense was led by another 1,000-point scorer, forward
Kayla Grimme (Altoona, PA / Altoona Area), who had a game-high 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe. Grimme averaged 20.5 points for the tournament, and finishes her Manhattan career with 1,433, good for fifth all-time. She pulled down just five rebounds, but finishes her time at Manhattan as one of the school's top three rebounders at 961.
Against Marist, Manhattan was unable to overcome a sharpshooting night by the Red Foxes, who shot 60 percent from the floor for the game, including an 80 percent second quarter where they went on an 11-0 run to break the game open at 31-12. Marist went 10-19 from three for the game, and missed just one of 15 free throws. The Red Foxes also out-rebounded Manhattan 37-26, including 31 defensive boards.
Sophomore forward Alana Gilmer led Marist with 23 points on 10-16 shooting. She had help from three other Red Foxes who scored in double digits.
In addition to Tatum and Grimme's accolades, the 2017-18 season ended with postseason honors for freshman
Courtney Warley (West Chester, PA / Bishop Shanahan) who was named to the MAAC's All-Rookie Team and sophomore
Gabby Cajou (Stony Point, NY / North Rockland) who was named the league's Sixth Player of the Year on Friday morning. Tatum was named to the All-MAAC Third Team, while Grimme was a selection for the All-MAAC Second Team.
Originally picked to finish 10th in the MAAC's preseason poll, the Jaspers ended the regular season tied for sixth, going 9-9 in conference, five games better than the team's 4-16 finish in conference last year.
