Late Comeback Falls Short In 51-47 Loss to Army

Box Score 

RIVERDALE, N.Y. ? The Manhattan College women's basketball team (4-9) battled back from 17 points down with just over eight minutes remaining to within two in the final seconds, but the Lady Jaspers ultimately came up just short in a 51-47 loss to Army (7-5) at Draddy Gymnasium on Tuesday afternoon.

The Lady Jaspers trailed 43-26 with 8:19 remaining before an Alicia Marculitis (Worcester, Mass.) jumper ignited a 9-2 rally that brought Manhattan within 10 points at the 6:04 mark.  The Black Knights increased their lead to 47-35 on an Alex McGuire layup with 5:43 left.  The sides then went nearly two minutes without scoring, and Manhattan went into the final media timeout still trailing by 12.

Kelly Regan (Williamsville, N.Y.) banked in a jumper at the 3:49 mark to start Manhattan's comeback.  After an Army turnover, a Manhattan possession that included two offensive rebounds ended when Annie McIntyre (Portland, Ore.) sank a long three-pointer from NBA range.  The Black Knights missed a jumper on the other end and Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) grabbed the rebound.  Alyssa Herrington (Cambridge, N.Y.) then hit a three from the right wing to cut Army's lead to four, 47-43, with 2:17 to go.

Herrington's layup with 37 seconds remaining cut Army's lead to two points, 47-45.  Manhattan head coach Myndi Hill elected to play defense rather than foul, but Megan Evans grabbed the rebound for the Black Knights after Nalini Hawkins missed a layup.  Hill used her last timeout, then the Lady Jaspers had to foul.  McGuire sank both free throws to bring the margin back to double-digits, then Army head coach Dave Magarity called timeout to set his defense. 

Manhattan got a driving coast-to-coast layup from Nicole Harrison (Falls Church, Va.) to make it 49-47 with three seconds left.  Magarity was forced to take his last timeout after the Lady Jaspers almost stole the inbounds pass.  Army got the inbounds pass in following the timeout, and Laura Baranek drove for a layup to seal the Black Knights' 51-47 victory.

“I'm proud of the way we played over the last five minutes,” Hill said.  “Our bench provided the spark and we were fueled by threes.  That's the way we're capable of playing.”

Each team got off to a slow start offensively.  The Lady Jaspers missed their first three shots before a tallying the first bucket of the game on a Herrington trey nearly two minutes in.  Army missed its first seven field goal attempts, tying the game at 3-3 on Baranek's jumper at the 14:03 mark of the first half.  The Lady Jaspers went nearly eight minutes without scoring, as the Black Knights built a 10-3 advantage.  Herrington ended Manhattan's scoring drought with another three, then a Harrison layup made it 10-8 with 9:17 left in the first half.  Army countered with a 12-0 rally to go up 22-8 at the 4:35 mark.  McIntyre drained a long three-pointer to put Manhattan back on the board, then Hawkins sank a pair of free throws to give the Black Knights a 24-11 halftime advantage.  Manhattan set a season-low with 11 first-half points and shot just 14.8 percent (4-of-27) from the field in the period.

The Lady Jaspers chipped away early in the second half, cutting the lead to 12 on two occasions.  After Michelle Pacheco (Bronx, N.Y.) hit two free throws to make it 38-26, Army scored the next five points to open up its biggest lead of the game.  A trey by McGuire gave the Black Knights a 43-26 advantage with 8:19 remaining before the Lady Jaspers started their comeback.

“That was our poorest offensive performance of the season,” Hill said.  “I give Army a lot of credit.  They were physical and in our face.  It's a shame that we wasted one of our better defensive games with a poor offensive game.”

Pacheco led the Lady Jaspers with 13 points, all in the second half, and added five rebounds and two assists.  Herrington chipped in with 11 points, while Regan tallied six points and tied a career-high with 10 rebounds.  Loutsenhizer had eight boards for Manhattan.  As a team, the Lady Jaspers shot 28.8 percent (15-of-52) from the field, including 25 percent (5-of-20) from downtown, and a season-high 85.7 percent (12-of-14) at the line.

Erin Anthony finished with a double-double for the Black Knights.  She tallied 12 points and 10 rebounds to go along with four assists and three blocks.  McGuire and Baranek each added nine points, while Evans and Courtney Wright each contributed seven rebounds.  Wright also notched eight points and three steals off the bench for Army.  As a team, the Black Knights shot 32.1 percent (18-of-56) from the field, 28.6 percent (2-of-7) from three-point range, and 72.2 percent (13-of-18) at the charity stripe.  Army outrebounded Manhattan 42-39.

This contest was Manhattan's final non-conference game of the season.  The Lady Jaspers (1-1 MAAC) resume Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play on Sunday afternoon, when they visit Iona (8-4, 2-0 MAAC) for a 1 p.m. tilt.