GAME NOTES
The Basics
Friday's contest will be streamed live on ESPN3.
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The Jaspers
- Manhattan opens the 2019-20 season with a fourth-place pick in the MAAC Preseason Poll. The ranking is the program's highest since the 2011-12 season, when the Jaspers were also picked fourth and went on to the semifinals of the 2012 Women's Basketball Invitational.
- Courtney Warley (West Chester, PA / Bishop Shanahan) was named the 2018-19 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year, just the second in program history to earn the honor. In October, she was named to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team. Last year, Warley compiled 9.1 boards, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks per game. She finished the year in sixth place on the program's single-season rebounding list with 282, including 162 defensive boards (eighth) and 120 offensive boards (third). She also earned 55 blocks on the year, good for for seventh place on that single-season list. Warley added 8.6 points per game for Manhattan, and earned six double-doubles for the season, just one off the MAAC-high.
- Preseason All-MAAC Third Team pick Gabby Cajou (Stony Point, NY / North Rockland) played seven games for Manhattan last season before suffering a knee injury against Lafayette on December 4. Prior to the injury, Cajou contributed 8.1 points, 2.4 steals and three assists per game as the Jaspers' starting point guard. She became the first in program history to earn MAAC Sixth Player of the Year honors in 2018, ranking second in the MAAC in field goal percentage (.476), and fourth in both assists per game (3.5) and steals per game (2.1).
- Lynette Taitt (Bronx, NY / Bishop Loughlin) scored in double-figures in 11 of the Jaspers' 18 MAAC regular season games last year, including 10 of the last 12, on her way to averaging 9.8 points against conference foes. She became the Jaspers' go-to weapon late in close games, hitting go-ahead baskets in wins at Rider (60-57) and Iona (54-52). She also doled out a team-high 53 assists in MAAC play, adding 2.3 steals per MAAC game.
- Stony Brook was picked to finish second in the America East this season, the second-straight year the Seawolves were predicted to be the league runner-up. The team went 23-8 last season and 11-5 in-conference, losing to Hartford 64-59 in the America East semifinals. Junior India Pagan was named to the America East Preseason All-Conference team. Stony Brook defeated St. Francis Brooklyn 86-73 in the Seawolves' season opener November 5, with three players hitting double figures.
- Manhattan and Stony Brook last met on November 17, 2018 in Draddy Gymnasium. The Seawolves took the win 79-48. The teams first met during the 1999-2000 season, the Seawolves' first at the Division I level. Manhattan took that game 79-66, as well as the teams' second meeting on November 24, 2007, at Draddy Gymnasium, when the Jaspers won 74-68. Manhattan's third win against Stony Brook came on December 15, 2008, with the Jaspers outlasting the Seawolves 70-60.
- The all-time series between Manhattan and Stony Brook is tied up at 3-3.