Box Score
MAAC Tournament Central
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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - After notching a school-record 21 victories during the regular season, the Manhattan College women's basketball team began its quest for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) title with a matchup against Iona in the quarterfinals of the Spark Energy MAAC Basketball Championships on Friday morning. Utilizing the same aggressive defense they've displayed all season, the third-seeded Lady Jaspers (22-8) moved into the semifinals for the first time in eight years with a 59-47 victory over the sixth-seeded Gaels (11-20) at Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard.
"I thought we did a really good job defensively today," Head Coach John Olenowski said. "Our defensive effort was really, really good. On the offensive end, we shared the ball nicely. We only had 15 turnovers. In a game like this where you're pressed the whole game, 15 turnovers is pretty good. It's a big win for us and we're looking forward to tomorrow's game."
Manhattan built an early 9-4 lead before Iona rallied for five straight points to tie the game at 9-9. However, Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) hit a layup on the next Manhattan possession to ignite a 14-5 Manhattan run that put the Lady Jaspers in front 23-14 with 6:23 left in the half, and Manhattan led 29-23 at intermission.
Iona's Kristina Ford scored her team's first eight points of the second half to bring the Gaels back within four at 37-33, but Maggie Blair (Briarcliff, N.Y.) followed with an old-fashioned three-point play on the other end to bring the lead back to seven, 40-33, with 12:39 remaining. Toni-Ann Lawrence (Elmont, N.Y.) followed with a pair of buckets that made it 44-33 in favor of the Lady Jaspers. Iona got back within seven on a Diana Hubbard three-pointer at the 5:28 mark, but Manhattan;s lead was never seriously challenged again. A Blair trey with 2:21 left made it a 12-point game, 52-40, and the Lady Jaspers secured their first postseason win since 2007 with a 59-47 victory.
Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine), Manhattan's First Team All-MAAC point guard, paced the Lady Jaspers with 14 points. She added four rebounds and five steals. Lawrence tied a career-high with 12 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde Park, Mass.) tallied eight points off the bench. Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) had seven points and a game-high 11 rebounds, and Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) pulled down seven boards. The Lady Jaspers shot 41.2 percent (21-of-51) from the field, 23.1 percent (3-of-13) from downtown, and 63.6 percent (14-of-22) at the line.
Ford had a game-high 18 points and nine rebounds to lead Iona. Hubbard tallied eight points and nine boards, while Tomica Bacic grabbed 10 rebounds and handed out a game-high seven assists. Iona shot 28.1 percent (18-of-64) from the field and outrebounded Manhattan 42-38. The Gaels shot 20.6 percent (7-of-34) from three-point range and 66.7 percent (4-of-6) at the charity stripe.
The Lady Jaspers play second-seeded Loyola (19-11) in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. The game will be televised live on MSG. Loyola, which escaped seventh-seeded Canisius 68-53 in overtime, won both regular season meetings against Manhattan.
NOTES: Despite both being founding members of the MAAC, this was just the second time that the Lady Jaspers and Gaels met in the MAAC Tournament...Manhattan improved to 43-21 all-time against Iona , and 2-0 against the Gaels in the MAAC Tournament...Friday's matchup was the Lady Jaspers' second straight contest with Iona, marking the first time since 1984-85 (Fairfield) that Manhattan faced the same opponent in back-to-back games...The Lady Jaspers went 3-0 against a MAAC opponent for the first time since notching three victories over Rider in 2006...Blair returned to the lineup after missing the previous six games with an injury...Lawrence also had 12 points against Siena on Jan. 4...Manhattan held Iona under 50 points for the first time in three meetings this season...It was the first MAAC Tournament victory for every player on the roster...Each of Manhattan's last two MAAC Tournament wins have come in Bridgeport...The Lady Jaspers snapped a four-game MAAC Tournament losing streak and won a quarterfinal game for the first time since 2002.
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