Riverdale, N.Y. (February 9, 2006)--On a promotional day in which admission was free, Manhattan Women's Basketball nailed nine of 10 free throw attempts down the stretch to preserve a 58-52 MAAC victory over the Fairfield Stags on Thursday evening at Draddy Gym. Although the Lady Jaspers never trailed during the second half, they clung to the thinnest of leads with less than two minutes left as freshman center Kelly Regan stepped to the line for two shots. Coming off of her first MAAC Rookie of the Week award, the freshman calmly sank both attempts to put the Lady J's up by three with the clock reading 1:38, and Fairfield would get no closer.
On Fairfield's ensuing possession the Lady Jasper defense forced one of the Stags' 29 turnovers on the day as Baendu Lowenthal stepped out of bounds on the baseline to give the ball back to the Lady J's with under a minute and a half left to play. On the opposite end, Manhattan sophomore guard Gabrielle Cottrell missed a three-pointer, but sophomore forward Caitlin Flood was there to grab a huge offensive rebound and draw a foul. Flood, who tallied 11 points and six boards, made the first, but missed the second. Once again, however, Manhattan pulled down another offensive board as Regan hauled it in.
Senior guard Lupe Godinez would make the two offensive rebounds hurt as she sunk two subsequent foul shots to make the score 54-48 with just 47 seconds left. Flood and senior forward Jennifer LePinnet would both add two more free throws apiece to seal the win.
Fairfield held a small advantage in the early going, but Lady Jasper freshman Annie McIntyre drilled a three from the left corner to break a 14-14 tie with 3:55 remaining in the first half. Manhattan took a 22-16 lead into the break and would eventually extend it to 11 points early on in the second half. Fairfield was able to cut the advantage down to one point on three different occasions in the half, but the Stags could not get over the hump.
Sophomore guard Joann Nwafili led four Lady Jaspers in double figures with 13 points. Regan and Godinez also added ten points apiece. Fairfield guard Sabra Wrice posted a game-high 16.
Manhattan travels up I-87 North to Poughkeepsie as the Lady Jaspers square off against MAAC-leading Marist on Saturday at 7:00 p.m.