Riverdale, N.Y. (November 10, 2005)--Manhattan Women's Basketball was unable to pull out a last-minute victory against the New York Gazelles in a pre-season exhibition contest played on Thursday night at Draddy Gym. The Lady Jaspers had three players score in double figures, but came up three points short in the 69-66 defeat.
Two of the three Lady J's in double figures were freshmen post players, as freshman Kymesha Alston led all scorers with 18 points and freshman Kelly Regan dropped in 11. Alston also corralled 10 rebounds to give her a double-double in her first appearance in front of the Jasper faithful. Regan added five boards on the night.
The third Lady Jasper to post double-digits in the points column was sophomore forward Caitlin Flood. Flood finished with 11 point on 5-10 shooting to go with four rebounds and three assists.
Manhattan brought a 32-26 advantage into the locker room at half-time, and the Lady Jaspers would extend that lead to 11 early on in the second half. The Gazelles, however, began to claw their way back into the game and eventually pulled even at 53 when Texlin Quinney converted on a lay-up with 5:07 remaining in regulation.
Only 12 seconds later, Lady Jasper sophomore Aubrie Dellinger, who earned a spot on the All-MAAC Rookie team last year, buried a three-pointer to put the Lady J's back in front. On the next two possessions, the Gazelles' Bianca Brown and Manhattan sophomore Gabrielle Cottrell traded three point field goals, as the Lady J's led 59-56 with less than four minutes remaining. After a Simona Burgess lay-up cut the Manhattan lead to one, Brown put the Gazelles in front by converting on two free throws.
After Cottrell took a charge to get the ball back for Manhattan with under a minute remaining, sophomore guard Joann Nwafili, a Pre-season All-MAAC Third Team selection, capitalized off of the turnover by sinking two free throws to put the Lady J's back in the lead, 66-65, with 25 seconds left on the clock.
The Gazelles, however, made four straight free throws down the stretch to gain the three-point win.
With the pre-season tune-up behind them, the Lady Jaspers officially open the 2005-06 regular season on November 18 when Big East opponent Syracuse University visits Draddy Gym. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m.