RIVERDALE, N.Y. -
Hosting a first round game in the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI)
for the second straight season, the Manhattan College women's
basketball team certainly looked right at home on Wednesday night. The
eighth-seeded Jaspers (17-15) put together one of their most impressive
offensive outings of the season to knock off top-seeded Robert Morris
(18-14), 77-54, at Draddy Gymnasium and advance to the WBI quarterfinals
for the second year in a row.
"We love this tournament," Head Coach John Olenowski said.
"This is the second year in a row we won a home game. We were ready to
play. The girls did a great job. They were very intense all game, and
I couldn't be any happier about their performance tonight."
Manhattan never trailed in the contest. The teams traded baskets early on before Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde
Park, Mass.) scored five consecutive points to turn a 7-7 deadlock into
a 12-7 Manhattan advantage. Robert Morris pulled within one at 12-11,
but Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) responded with a trey on the other end to push the Jaspers' lead back to four at 15-11.
With the Jaspers leading 17-15 midway through the first, Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) hit a layup, then Monica Roeder (Marlton,
N.J.) tallied seven straight points to increase Manhattan's advantage
to 11, 26-15, at the 9:02 mark. The Colonials responded with a 6-2 run
to get back within seven before an Alyssa Herrington (Cambridge,
N.Y.) three-pointer started a 10-0 Manhattan spurt that increased the
Jaspers' cushion to 17 points, 38-21, with 2:01 left before halftime.
The Jaspers shot a scorching 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field and
54.5 percent (6-of-11) from downtown in the opening 20 minutes and took a
41-23 advantage into the locker room.
It was more of the
same early in the second half, as a Halfkenny jumper with 15:32
remaining gave the Jaspers a 50-32 lead. However, the Colonials
responded with two three-pointers in a 35-second span to trim their
deficit to 12 points, 50-38. Robert Morris eventually trimmed the
margin to eight when Briannica Tye's layup made the score 54-46 with
7:43 to go.
The Colonials would
get no closer, though, as Roeder drained a trey to start a 7-0 Manhattan
rally that once again made it a 15-point game, 61-46. After Robert
Morris scored the next four points to get back within 11, Roeder hit
Herrington for a wide open trey from the top of the key. That bucket
sparked a 16-4 Jaspers spurt over the final 4:25, turning the game into
an easy win. Nicole Isaacs (Fair
Haven, N.J.) drained a three with 47 seconds left to give Manhattan its
largest lead of the game, 77-54, which ended up being the final.
"We did a really
good job spreading the ball around," Olenowski said. "We also hit some
key shots. It seemed like when they came back, we hit a couple of big
threes. It was very balanced scoring, and we hit some really big
baskets tonight."
Roeder led the way with 18 points, while Herrington, playing in her 100th
career game, had 17 points and a career-high eight assists.
Loutsenhizer added 15 points, five rebounds, five assists and four
steals, and Halfkenny posted nine points and three assists. Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont,
N.Y.) grabbed a career-high 12 boards, as Manhattan outrebounded Robert
Morris 40-32. The Jaspers distributed a season-high 26 assists on 29
successful field goals, and every Manhattan starter had at least three
assists. Manhattan shot 47.5 percent (29-of-61) from the field,
including 43.5 percent (10-of-23) from three-point range, and didn't
miss a free throw, going 9-for-9 at the line.
Mary Durojaye led
the Colonials with 14 points and nine rebounds. Tye also had 14 points
to go along with three assists and five steals, while Artemis Spanou,
who came into the contest averaging 17.0 points and 10.8 rebounds per
game, was held to 12 points and nine boards. Josette Campbell pulled
down nine rebounds and added five assists, four steals and two blocks.
Robert Morris shot 32.2 percent (19-of-59) from the field, but was held
to just 15.4 percent (4-of-26) shooting from long range. The Colonials
went 12-for-14 (85.7 percent) at the charity stripe.
The Jaspers now move
on to the quarterfinals, where they'll face the winner of Thursday
night's matchup between Holy Cross (18-14) and New Hampshire (16-13).
The date, time and location of that contest will be determined once
Manhattan knows its opponent.