Riverdale, N.Y. (January 11, 2008) ? The Lady Jaspers won completed a sweep of Siena College winning their second contest this season, 70-68. The Lady J's went 5-6 from the free throw line in the last 30 seconds of the game to pull away with the victory. Senior forward Caitlin Flood led all scorers with 23 point as she was perfect from the field, going 10-10.
In their second match-up of the season, both teams knew what to expect of each other and it was made to be an interesting game. At the start of the game, Manhattan raced out to an early 7-2 lead with 17 minutes left in the first half. The Lady J's then built up a 12 point lead, 27-15 off of 3-4 three point shooting from senior Aubrie Dellinger. With just under seven minutes to go, the Lady Jaspers had a comfortable lead. But two quick fouls by Flood, put her on the bench and the Saints were going to take advantage of that. In the next two minutes, Siena went on a 7-0 run to cut Manhattan's lead to three with just over four minutes to play in the half. With the Lady Jaspers up three, senior Joann Nwafili hit a tough lay-up with 18 seconds remaining to give Manhattan a five point lead at halftime, 35-30. Dellinger finished the half with nine points as the Lady J's were looking to take some momentum into the second half.
In the second half, the game was kept close as both teams were battling it out until the bitter end. With Manhattan holding on to a four point lead, freshman Abby Wentworth made a lay-up and drew the foul with 8:58 left in the game. She made the free throw to convert a three point swing as the Lady J's took a seven point lead, their largest lead of the half.
But Siena battled back as a free throw by Laura Menty converted a lay-up and the foul to cut the Lady J's lead to just two, 60-58, with 4:37 left to play. But the Lady Jaspers would score the next five consecutive points to go up 65-58 with under two minutes in the game. After the Saints hit a pair of free throws the scoreboard read 65-62 in favor of Manhattan just outside the final minute of play. But clutch free throw shooting by Manhattan in the closing minute put Siena too far away for them to catch as the Lady Jaspers held on for the win.
Manhattan held onto the lead the entire game as and never looked back. Flood grabbed six boards to go along with her 23 point performance as she was also perfect from the three point line, going 2-2. Wentworth finished the game with a career high 10 points while also dishing out four assists for the Lady Jaspers. Dellinger contributed 11 points on 4-9 shooting from the field, respectively. As a team Manhattan shot 50% from three point range as well as 47.3% from the field. On the defensive side, the Lady J's tallied eight steals as well as forcing 15 Siena turnovers.
Manhattan improves their overall record to 9-6 while remaining a perfect 4-0 in conference play. The Lady Jaspers will return to action on Sunday, January 13 as they will take on defending MAAC Champion Marist College in the battle for first place in the MAAC. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
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