Manhattan University Athletics

Lawrenceville, NJ - Manhattan women's basketball will take on the Rider Broncs Sunday, February 17 in Lawrenceville, NJ.

Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. The game can be streamed live on ESPN+.

Game Notes:

Last Outing
Manhattan (7-17; 5-8 MAAC) lost to MAAC number one Quinnipiac 64-39 February 15 at Draddy Gymnasium. The Jaspers pulled down 44 rebounds as a team, the seventh time this season Manhattan has recorded 40 or more rebounds in a single game. The team out-rebounded the Bobcats by 10, including 17-11 on the offensive boards. 

The Jaspers were hampered by poor shooting in the first half, going just 2-12 in the first quarter and 0-12 in the second. Manhattan was held to six points in the first 20 minutes, while Quinnipiac jumped out to a 18-point lead. Quinnipiac earned a 24-8 edge over Manhattan in the paint. The Bobcats also converted 25 points off Manhattan's 25 turnovers, the second-highest TO performance of the season for the Jaspers.

Top Performances
With three treys in the third quarter against Quinnipiac, sophomore guard Lizahya Morgan (East Hartford, CT / Capital Preparatory Magnet) scored a game-high 13 points for Manhattan, going 4-7 from three-point range. Her four threes tied her season best earned against Siena on January 11. Sophomore center Courtney Warley (West Chester, PA / Bishop Shanahan) earned a game-high 12 rebounds against the Bobcats.

MAAC Stats
Manhattan has held conference opponents to 55.0 points per game so far, good for second in the league. The Jaspers are averaging a league-high 5.4 blocks per game in the MAAC, while earning 8.8 steals per contest, ranking third in the conference. Manhattan is the MAAC's second-best rebounding team, with 39.3 boards per MAAC game.

Warley at Work
One of the MAAC's best defenders, Warley leads the league in rebounding (9.9), blocks (2.6), and steals (2.5) per game against conference opponents. She is also 14th in the league in field goal percentage, shooting 42.3 percent against MAAC foes.

With four blocks against Saint Peter's on February 9, Warley jumped into the program's all-time blocks list. Now with 74 for her career, she sits in eighth place all-time. She is one block away from tying for 10th on the program's single-season blocks list (46).

With 213 rebounds so far this season, Warley is also 50 away from placing 10th on the program's single-season rebounding list, including 40 defensive boards away from 10th on that season-bests lists. With seven offensive rebounds against the Bobcats, Warley now has 97 for the year, earning the seventh spot on the program's single-season offensive rebounding list. She needs seven more to move into the top five.

Taitt the Great
Lynette Taitt (Irvington, NJ / Bishop Loughlin) has scored in double-figures in six of the Jaspers' last seven games, including a career-high 20 points in the Jaspers' win over Marist on January 27. She is averaging 9.2 points per game against the league, coming in at 27th in the conference's top 30 scorers list. In MAAC play, Taitt has become a dominate defensive presence, with 2.0 steals per game (ninth in the MAAC).

About the Broncs
Rider (15-9, 11-2 MAAC) has gone 6-2 since last meeting the Jaspers in Draddy Gym on January 20. The Broncs currently sit in second place in the league with just two  conference losses. The Broncs rank third in scoring offense against MAAC opponents (64 points per game) while allowing a third-best 55.8 points per contest. Collectively, the team shoots more than 42 percent from the floor, and nearly 35 percent from three in the league. Stella Johnson leads the team with 19.8 points per game against MAAC foes, while Amari Johnson and Lexi Posset are also averaging double-figures.

Previous Meeting
Manhattan's Kania Pollock (Queens, NY / The Mary Louis Academy) put in 20 points against Rider on Sunday, January 20, setting a new career-high as the Jaspers fell to the Broncs 73-63 in Draddy. Pollock went 7-12 from the floor and 5-12 from the foul line. She added five rebounds and two assists. Warley added 16 points to the Jaspers' offensive effort. She shot 62.5 percent from the floor and was a perfect 6-6 from the charity stripe. She added two blocks to her stat line, as well as six rebounds.

Though falling behind early, the Jaspers cut the Rider lead to five with 5 minutes left in the game. Manhattan shot 85.7 percent in the fourth, but just six field goals wasn't enough to overtake the Broncs, as Lexi Posset made seven free throws down the stretch to cement the win for Rider. 

Series History
Manhattan leads the all-time series 29-18, though the Jaspers have not defeated the Broncs since January 25, 2016, when Manhattan defeated Rider 74-70 in Lawrenceville.