Riverdale, NY - The Manhattan women's basketball (0-0) team will host Stony Brook (0-2) in the Jaspers' season opener on December 8 at Draddy Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:00 pm with all the action being broadcast on
ESPN3.
GAME NOTES
Quick Hits
* Manhattan has been selected as the MAAC Preseason No. 1 for the 2020-21 season.
* In addition to the team accolades,
Courtney Warley and
Emily LaPointe were named to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team, while
Gabby Cajou was named to the Third Team.
* Manhattan finished the 2019-20 regular season 15-14 overall and 12-8 in conference play, tying for third place in the MAAC rankings, the program's best conference finish since 2011.
*
Dee Dee Davis, who sat out the 2019-20 season due to injury, will make her collegiate return.
Preseason #1
Manhattan has been selected as the MAAC Preseason No. 1 for the 2020-21 season, announced by the conference Thursday, November 5 during the MAAC Preseason Awards Show on ESPN3. The Jaspers top the MAAC's preseason coaches poll for the first time in the modern era of the league. The no. 1 preseason ranking is also the Jaspers' highest since the 2002-03 season, when Manhattan was selected to finish second in the league. The Jaspers went on to win the MAAC Championship over Siena that season.
Individual Preseason Accolades
In addition to the team accolades,
Courtney Warley and
Emily LaPointe were named to the Preseason All-MAAC First Team, while
Gabby Cajou was named to the Third Team.
Warley's World
Courtney Warley, a senior center, earned unanimous 2020-21 Preseason All-MAAC First Team honors, marking the second-straight year she has been named to the preseason first team. During the 2019-20 campaign, she started all 29 games, averaging 34.9 minutes per game and ranking fifth in the league. Warley averaged 11.6 points and 8.7 rebounds per contest, while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and nabbing 2.4 steals per game (38th in NCAA Division I) on her way to becoming just the eighth player in program history to earn MAAC First Team honors. She was also named to the All-ECAC Second Team and the All-Met Second Team.
Warley finished the 2019-20 regular season with 679 career rebounds, ranking 10th in program history. Her 183 defensive rebounds last year placed her in fourth on the program's single-season list, while her 25 blocks put Warley at 109 for her career, making her just the fifth player in program history to reach the century mark. Warley has earned postseason recognition in all three of her years at Manhattan, including being named to the MAAC All-Rookie Team (2017-18), to the All-MAAC Third Team (2018-19) and as Defensive Player of the Year (2018-19).
To LaPointe
Emily LaPointe, a sophomore guard, breaks into the Preseason All-MAAC First Team after being named the 2019-20 unanimous MAAC Rookie of the Year, the first unanimous selection in program history. She earned a league-high eight MAAC Rookie of the Week honors last season, and was unanimously named to the 2019-20 MAAC All-Rookie Team, while also earning All-Met Third Team honors.
LaPointe led the Jaspers in scoring with 12.5 points per game, ranking 13th in the league. Her 1.9 threes per game placed her in sixth in the conference, while her 30.7 minutes played per game ranked her among the MAAC's top 20. LaPointe led the Jasper offense in 14 games, recording double-digit scoring in 22 of her 29 games played. She is the first sophomore player to be named to the preseason first team since Quinnipiac's Aryn McClure in 2016.
Davis Returns
Dee Dee Davis, who sat out the 2019-20 season due to injury, will make her collegiate return November 25. A unanimous MAAC All-Rookie Team selection in 2018-19, Davis led the Jaspers with 8.9 points per contest, shooting 40 percent from the floor and 33.9 percent from three-point range that year. Dvais was the only Jasper to average double-figures in MAAC play, putting in 10 points per game on 43.7 percent shooting (42.3 from three). She was also a three-time MAAC Rookie of the Week.
Hitting Milestones
Now with 679 career rebounds,
Courtney Warley ranks 10th all-time and is 19 away from tying Meredith Morse (1996-2000) for ninth place. With 183 defensive rebounds this year, Warley is fourth on the program's single-season list, and just six defensive boards from jumping into the top three. Warley is also 11 steals away from tying for 15th on that all-time list.
Gabby Cajou is 11th all time with 295 career assists, just four away from tying Abby Wentworth (2007-11) for 10th. Cajou is also six steals away from tying Michelle Pacheco (2006-10) at 15th on that all-time list.
Pamela Miceus is tied for 10th place all-time with 71 career blocks. She needs just one more to hold 10th place on her own, and two more to tie Sheila Tighe (1980-84) for ninth place.
About The Seawolves
Stony Brook enters with a 0-2 record, but has dropped a pair of hard-fought contests to perennial Atlantic 10 power Fordham and No. 23 Syracuse.
Asiah Dingle scored 22 points against the Rams en route to earning America East Player of the Week honors on November 30, and is averaging a team-best 15.5 ppg with 5.5 rpg.
Last season, Stony Brook went 28-3, fueled by a 22-game winning streak, and were set to play for the America East title when #Covid-19 put the world on pause.
PREVIOUS MEETING
Last season, the Jaspers dropped a tough 59-54 decision to the Seawolves in large page to a 10-0 fourth-quarter Stony Brook run. Junior
Sydney Watkins scored a team-high 12 points, while senior
Lynette Taitt added eight points and eight rebounds.
TWO YEARS AGO ...
Junior
Dee Dee Davis had a then career-high 18 points, on 6-of-9 shooting, against Stony Brook.
WITH A WIN ...
Manhattan will snap a four-game losing streak to the Seawolves, while equaling the all-time series at 4-4.
HEAD COACH HEATHER VULIN
Heather Vulin was named the eighth head coach in Manhattan College program history on April 25, 2016. A 1999 graduate of Minnesota-Morris, she earned nearly two decades of coaching experience before arriving in Riverdale. She began her career as a graduate assistant at North Dakota State from 2000-02, then spent six seasons as an assistant coach at Sacred Heart from 2002-08. Vulin was on the staff at Villanova for seven seasons (2008-15) before spending the 2015-16 campaign as assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Virginia Tech. She won her first game as a head coach against Holy Cross, defeating the Crusaders 60-56 on November 11, 2016 at home. She won her first MAAC game against Siena on December 30, 2016, when the Jaspers defeated the Saints 68-66 in Riverdale.
Vulin has continued to raise the standard for the women's basketball program since her arrival at Manhattan. She mentored
Courtney Warley to the program's first MAAC First Team selection since 2011 and the program's second MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Award. In addition, she guided
Emily LaPointe to the unanimous 2019-20 MAAC Rookie of the Year award, and
Gabby Cajou to the program's first MAAC Sixth Player of the Year award in 2018. The Jaspers have earned a spot in the MAAC quarterfinals for three-straight years, and the squad has moved from a 10th-place pick in the MAAC preseason poll in 2017 to first this season.
THE COACHING STAFF
Vulin's staff consists of
Allie Bassetti Callan Taylor,
Rena Wakama and
Kiambra Griffin.
In her fifth season, Bassetti, serves as an assistant coach and the team's recruiting coordinator. She joined Vulin at Manhattan after serving as the director of basketball operations at American from 2013-16. Also in her fifth season and fourth as an assistant coach, Taylor was the 2011-12 NEC player of the year at Sacred Heart and played basketball professionally overseas before arriving in Riverdale. Wakama is in herfourth season with the Jaspers and her second as an assistant coach. A 2014 graduate of Western Carolina, she played professional basketball, making stops in the United Kingdom and the FIBA African Basketball League.
Griffin joined the Jaspers last year as director of basketball operations. Prior to that, the 2018 Davidson grad was a graduate assistant at Columbia.
#playGREEN
The Jaspers' team motto "playGREEN" is a concept developed by Head Coach
Heather Vulin. For the team, playGREEN is a commitment to the pursuit of excellence. Vulin expects her players to have that mindset every day, as they play for their teammates, for their program, and to represent Manhattan College at a championship level. The Jaspers use #playGREEN on all of the team's social media channels.
THE NEWCOMERS
Manhattan welcomes three freshman and one transfer for the 2019-20 season.
Jenna Jordan joins the squad from St. Francis Brooklyn, where she averaged 6.3 points over 22.4 minutes per game, shooting 46.3 percent from the floor in her freshman campaign.
Nia Bailey, a freshman from New Rochelle, NY, was named a 2019-20 Conference I All-Section selection, in addition to being named a Journal News/LoHud Girls Basketball Honorable Mention for Westchester and Putnam Counties.
Classmate
Favour Mbeledeogu won the Pennsylvania District Three Class 2A championship as a member of the Linden Hall for Girls squad and also played for Raptors Academy (2016) and Deepbond Academy (2017).
Rounding out the newcomers,
Emma Wilson-Saltos joins the team from the Bronx's Preston High School, and is the first player out of Preston to to play Division I basketball in 16 years.
AC HERE WE COME!
The 2020-21 men's and women's MAAC Championships will take place March 9-13 in Atlantic City, NJ. The tournament will be held at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall.
UNITED FOR JUSTICE
Earlier this year, the MAAC launched its United for Justice campaign. For the 2020-21 season, the MAAC will work both internally at the conference office and with all 11 member institutions to advance and execute strategies to combat racial injustices within our society. The MAAC and its member institutions will work to address the long-standing history of systemic racism and inequality that minorities in this country have and still currently face, with a goal to educate those around us and to create substantial change in our communities. The MAAC basketball programs have united to focus their messaging platform for the upcoming season on Black Lives Matter. Specifically, the coaches will be showcasing the Black Lives Matter messaging on warm up shirts and uniform patches.
WHAT'S A JASPER?
Manhattan is the only athletic program in Division I with the "Jaspers" nickname. The unique moniker honors one of Manhattan's most memorable figures, Brother Jasper of Mary, F.S.C. Brother Jasper served Manhattan College in the late 1800s and was the first coach of Manhattan's baseball team. He is also credited as the creator of the "seventh-inning stretch," which has become a time-honored tradition at ballparks across the country. During a game in the 1880s, Brother Jasper noticed students getting restless in the middle of the seventh inning of a close game, so he called timeout and told the students to stand up a stretch for a few minutes before resuming the game. Since Manhattan regularly played the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in the 1880s and into the 1890s, the tradition spread into the major leagues.
