Jaspers Face Marist In MAAC Quarterfinals

Albany, NY - For the second-straight year, Manhattan women's basketball will face Marist in the MAAC quarterfinals. The two teams will tip-off at 12:00 p.m. Saturday, March 9 at the Times Union Center in Albany. The game will also be streamed live on ESPN3. 

Game Notes:

Last Outing
Manhattan (12-18, 9-9 MAAC) defeated #11 Saint Peter's 62-41 on March 7 to move on to the quarterfinals of the 2019 MAAC Tournament. Courtney Warley (West Chester, PA / Bishop Shanahan) led the way on offense for Manhattan, scoring a game-high 16 points and nabbing nine rebounds on her way to being named the Geico Player of the Game. Warley shot more than 57 percent for the day. Her nine boards came all on the defensive end, and she added three assists and four blocks to her stat line.

Also scoring in double-figures for Manhattan, Pamela Miceus (Haverstraw, NY / North Rockalnd) put in a career-high 10, her first double-figure scoring game of her career. She added five rebounds, a block and a steal. Lynette Taitt (Irvington, NJ / Bishop Loughlin) scored 10 points for Manhattan, as well. Taitt went 4-6 from the floor, while collecting six defensive rebounds. She added three assists. The Jaspers shot 49.1 percent as a team Thursday afternoon, the best shooting percentage of the season for the Js.

Defensive Player of the Year
Courtney Warley was named the 2018-19 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year at the league's awards show on March 8. A 2019 All-MAAC Third Team selection and a 2018 All-Rookie pick, Warley is just the second in program history to win the award (Amani Tatum was the first in 2016).

Warley led the MAAC in a number of categories this year, including a league-high 9.0 rebounds per game overall. She finished the regular season with a MAAC-high 9.9 boards, 2.5 steals and 2.2 blocks per game against conference opponents. She also ranked fourth in the MAAC with 5.0 defensive boards per game.

Defense Wins Championships
Manhattan has consistently ranked second in the MAAC for scoring defense this year, allowing just 56.6 points per game from opponents, good for 26th in all of NCAA Division I. The Jaspers are one of just four MAAC teams to hold foes under a 60-point average, and conference opponents have averaged just 53.4 points against the Js.

With 37.9 rebounds per game, Manhattan ranks third in the league. The Jaspers also lead the MAAC with 4.1 blocks per game and rank second with 9.2 steals per contest.

Down the Stretch
Manhattan won four of its last five games on its way to a fourth-place tie with Monmouth and Canisius in the final MAAC standings. After opening conference play 1-5 in the league, the Jaspers defeated Marist by 18 in Poughkeepsie on January 27. Manhattan went 7-4 after that banner win, picking up another upset at Rider (60-57) on February 17. 

Postseason Honors
Warley and  D'yona Davis (Bronx, NY / Truman) earned MAAC postseason honors on Monday, March 4. Warley was named to the 2019 All-MAAC Third Team, while Davis was a unanimous selection to the MAAC All-Rookie Team. 

Davis, who started 17 games for the Jaspers, ranked 26th in the MAAC with a team-high 8.9 points per game, shooting .400 from the field. She added 3.0 rebounds per game, as well as 1.1 assists and 1.3 steals. Davis nabbed 10 double-figure scoring games this season, including two 20-point games, and led the Jaspers in scoring seven times. She averaged 10 points per game against MAAC foes.  

Taitt the Great
Taitt scored in double-figures in 11 of the Jaspers' 18 MAAC regular season games, 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 at Rider (60-57) and Iona (54-52). She doled out a team-high 53 assists in MAAC play, adding 2.3 steals per MAAC game.

About the Red Foxes
#3 Marist went 8-4 in non-conference play, and 13-5 in the MAAC this season, on the way to a #3 seed in the MAAC Tournament. Two Red Foxes, Rebekah Hand and Alana Gilmer, were named to the All-MAAC First Team. Hand ranks third in the conference in points per game (16.6) and first in three-point percentage (39.9). Gilmer ranks fourth in the conference 15.3 points per game, third in field goal percentage (48.2)

The Regular Season Match-Ups
The Jaspers and Red Foxes split during the regular season, with each team taking a W  on their opponents' home court. 

The Jaspers defeated then second-place Marist 69-51 on January 27 in Poughkeepsie, Head Coach Heather Vulin's first win against the Red Foxes. Taitt put in a career-high 20 points at Marist to lead all scorers, while junior Julie Høier (Aabyhoej, Denmark / Marselisborg Gymnasium) added a career-high 16 points to the Jaspers' offense, going a near-perfect 5-6 from the floor. 

The Jaspers fell to Marist 62-51 in Draddy Gymnasium on February 7. After Manhattan opened the game 20-10 in the first, the Red Foxes made adjustments in the second that wiped away Manhattan's lead quickly. Marist held the Jaspers to just one field goal in the quarter, while shooting more than 57 percent on the other end. They led for the remainder of the game. Davis scored a career-high 20 points to lead the Jaspers on the offensive end. She shot 50 percent from the floor with two threes, and added two assists and two steals.

All-Times Series
Marist leads the all-time series 34-25.