Worcester, Mass. -
There's something about the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) that
brings out the best in the Manhattan College women's basketball team.
Led by a career-high 25 points from Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde
Park, Mass.) the Jaspers (18-15) moved into the WBI semifinals for the
second straight year with a 78-63 quarterfinal victory over Holy Cross
(19-15) at the Hart Center on Sunday.
After Holy Cross
jumped out to an early 4-2 lead, the Jaspers went on a 14-2 run to open
up a 16-6 lead with 11:15 left in the first half. The Crusaders were
held without a field goal for more than seven minutes before Brisje
Malone hit a layup to make it an eight-point game, 18-10, midway through
the period.
Manhattan responded with a Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont,
N.Y.) layup that ignited an 8-1 spurt over the next 2:30. The Jaspers'
advantage reached 15 points when Halfkenny hit a trey to make it 26-11,
but Holy Cross used a 7-2 run to get back within 10 at 28-18 with 5:42
remaining before halftime. The teams then traded five-point spurts,
with the Jaspers going up 38-23 on a trey by Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North
Huntingdon, Pa.) at the 2:32 mark. Holy Cross scored the final four
points of the half to trim its margin to 38-27 at intermission.
Holy Cross pulled
within eight, 40-32, early in the second half, but Manhattan responded
with six straight points to open up a 46-32 advantage. With the Jaspers
leading 54-40, Amy Lepley hit a three-pointer to spark a 9-2 Holy Cross
run that got the Crusaders back within seven at 56-49. However,
Halfkenny hit a trey on the other end to start an 11-4 Manhattan rally,
and the margin ballooned to a game-high 17 points at 70-53 with 4:46 to
play. Holy Cross tallied the next seven points to again get within 10
at 70-60, but the Jaspers responded with a 6-0 run of their own to make
it 76-60 with 1:40 left. The 78-63 victory was Manhattan's fourth WBI
win over the last two seasons.
Halfkenny had five
rebounds to go along with her 25 points. She also handed out four
assists and didn't commit a turnover in 35 minutes of action.
Loutsenhizer notched 17 points to move into fifth place on the Jaspers'
all-time scoring list, while also contributing a team-high seven
rebounds and a career-high seven steals. Lawrence added 12 points, and Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) tallied 10 points and five steals. Alyssa Herrington (Cambridge,
N.Y.) finished with nine points and handed out eight assists for the
second straight game. As a team, Manhattan posted 21 assists on 28
baskets. The Jaspers also recorded 21 steals. Manhattan shot 45.2
percent (28-of-62) from the field, 41.2 percent (7-of-17) from downtown,
and 71.4 percent (15-of-21) at the line.
Lepley led the
Crusaders with 17 points and added eight rebounds, while Alex Smith
tallied 13 points and four assists. Emily Parker contributed 10 points
and eight rebounds. Christine Ganser recorded seven points and a
team-high nine boards, and Clare Sullivan posted seven rebounds and
three blocks in nine minutes off the bench. Malone handed out a
team-high five assists. Holy Cross shot 39.6 percent (21-of-53) from
the field, including 27.3 percent (6-of-22) from three-point land, and
88.2 percent (15-of-17) at the charity stripe.
The eighth-seeded
Jaspers have a semifinal date with second-seeded Minnesota (17-17) in
Minneapolis, Minn., at 8 p.m. EDT on Friday night. The Golden Gophers
posted an 85-59 victory over Bradley in their quarterfinal game. The
Manhattan-Minnesota winner will take on either Northern Iowa or Seattle
for the WBI championship next Sunday.