Poughkeepsie, N.Y. (February 11, 2006)--When Marist and Manhattan Women's Basketball squared off earlier in the season at Draddy, the Lady Jasper defense limited the MAAC Pre-season Player of the Year Fifi Camara to six points. The second time around, however, Camara and her two front court teammates, center Meg Dahlman and forward Sarah Smrdel, combined for 50 of the Red Foxes' 58 points en route to a 58-42 victory over Manhattan on Saturday afternoon at the McCann Center. All three Red Foxes scored in double figures with Camara leading the way with 22 points and nine rebounds. Sophomores Gabrielle Cottrell and Caitlin Flood scored in double digits for the Lady J's with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
After Flood shot faked and hit a jumper from the left elbow to open the scoring and give Manhattan its only lead of the game a minute into the contest, the Marist post players went to work. Dahlman put Marist on the scoreboard by stepping out and hitting a three-pointer just over two minutes into the game. Camara then got into the act by producing three consecutive Marist buckets, scoring two and setting Dahlman up with a crisp entry pass for the third. Controlling the tempo for the first half, the Red Foxes took a 31-12 lead into the break.
The Lady Jaspers, however, came out of the lockerroom strong as they scored the first five points of the stanza on a Nwafili three-ball and Flood offensive putback. Despite increased energy, Manhattan was unable to put a large dent into the Marist advantage as it lingered around 12 points for most of the second half. Nwafili knocked down her second three of the period to pull the Lady J's within 10 at 49-39 with just under four minutes left to play, but Manhattan would get no closer.
The Manhattan defense halted the production of the Marist guards, who hurt the Lady J's in the first meeting, as the two starters were a combined 0-7 from the field with seven assists. Dahlman, however, must like playing against the Kelly Green and White. The center dropped in 18 points today after scoring a career-high 25 against Manhattan when the two teams clashed at Draddy.
Manhattan returns to Draddy on Thursday, February 16 to complete the season series against Loyola. Tip-off is 7:00 p.m.