Riverdale, N.Y. (January 29, 2006)-Marist's leading scorer and MAAC Pre-season Player of the Year Fifi Camara managed to score only six points, but the Red Foxes committed a season-low six turnovers and used suffocating defense to defeat Manhattan Women's Basketball, 61-40, on Sunday afternoon at Draddy Gym. The loss drops to the Lady Jaspers to 7-12 overall and 4-6 in MAAC play, while the defending MAAC Regular Season Champion Red Foxes improve to 14-5 overall and 9-1 in conference games.
Marist took control of the game in the early going with the help of some uncharacteristic stellar three-point shooting. Coming into the game, the Red Foxes were shooting under 31 percent from beyond the arc, but Marist shot 7-13 from downtown in the first half on Sunday afternoon with five different players nailing a three-pointer. In addition to the three-point shooting, Marist used defensive intensity, a common characteristic of the Red Foxes, to head into the break with a 33-18 lead. Manhattan was held to 28-percent shooting clip in the opening period.
The Manhattan offense began to come to life five minutes into the second half as senior forward Jennifer LePinnet provided a spark off the bench. LePinnet grabbed a defensive rebound off of Meg Dahlman's missed three-point attempt and then knocked down a three from the top of the key on Manhattan's ensuing possession to cut the Marist advantage down to 37-23 with 14:50 remaining on the clock. Less than a minute later, LePinnet nailed another jumper to pull the Lady J's within 12, which was as close as the Marist defense would allow Manhattan to get during the rest of the afternoon.
Manhattan won the battle of the boards by one as sophomore guard Joann Nwafili pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Camara led the Red Foxes with six boards, and Marist center Meg Dahlman scored a game-high, and new career-high, 25 points in only 29 minutes.
The Lady Jaspers shuffle off the Buffalo next weekend to complete the season series against both Canisius and Niagara. Manhattan opens the weekend against Canisius on Friday night, February 3 at 7:00 p.m.