West Long Branch, NJ - Manhattan women's basketball will take on the Monmouth Hawks Tuesday, December 17 in the first MAAC women's basketball game of the 2019-20 season. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 pm at the OceanFirst Bank Center.Â
GAME NOTES
Last Outing
Manhattan put together an 86-56 win over Army Friday, December 13, shooting over 47 percent from the floor as a team in the Jaspers' final home game of 2019.
Manhattan's 86 points were the most scored by a Jasper team under Head Coach
Heather Vulin. Manhattan's .474 field goal percentage for the game was just shy of the team's season best of .479, earned in a win over Dartmouth on December 1. Junior guard
Lynette Taitt (Bronx, NY / Bishop Loughlin) put in a season-high 14 points for Manhattan, while adding a game-high five assists, tying her season best earned at Villanova on November 21. Taitt also contributed six rebounds and two steals for the Jaspers.
Defense Wins Championships
Manhattan leads the MAAC in scoring defense, holding opponents to a league-best 60.5 points per game. The Jaspers also are the conference leaders in three-point field goal percentage defense (.281), while ranking second in blocked shots per game (3.1) and steals per game (8.6). Â
Three-Time Rookie of the Week
Freshman
Emily LaPointe (Staten Island, NY / Staten Island Academy) earned her third (and second-straight) MAAC Rookie of the Week award on December 16 after contributing 12 points and five rebounds in Manhattan's win over Army on December 13. LaPointe leads the Jaspers in scoring with 9.8 points per game (19th in the MAAC), and scored a career-high 18 points at Villanova on November 21, paving the way for her first MAAC Rookie of the Week honor in November. Her three weekly honors is the most among all freshman in the league.
About the Hawks
Monmouth enters Tuesday's game at 2-5 on the season, with wins over Purdue Fort Wayne and Lafayette. The Hawks rank just behind Manhattan in scoring defense, allowing 60.6 points per game. Sierra Green leads the Hawks offense with 11.7 points per game. She's also fourth in the MAAC for three made per game, averaging 2.4.
Previous Meeting
Monmouth scored 25 fourth-quarter points to overtake Manhattan in a 71-63 victory for the Hawks at the OceanFirst Bank Center on February 12, 2019.
D'yona Davis (Bronx, NY / Truman) tied her career-scoring high with 20 points in the game, including 13 first-half points, before leaving with an injury. Taitt added 14 points for the Jaspers, which was her sixth consecutive double-figure scoring game. She shot 50 percent from the floor and picked up five boards and four assists.
All-Time Series
Monmouth holds a 15-11 advantage in the teams' all-time series. The Jaspers last won against the Hawks on January 28, 2018, closing out the game on a 14-2 run en route to a convincing 63-53 win over Monmouth at Draddy Gymnasium.
20 is the Magic Number
This season the MAAC returns to a 20-game conference schedule, with each team playing each MAAC opponent twice. Previously, the conference schedule consisted of 18 games, with MAAC teams facing certain opponents just once based on preseason projections.
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