Riverdale, N.Y. (February 1, 2008) ? The Lady Jaspers held Canisius College scoreless in seven minutes of the second half and cruised on to victory tonight in Draddy Gymnasium. Senior Aubrie Dellinger led all scorers with 24 points, hitting a career high six three pointers in the game.
Coming into tonight's game, Manhattan was looking to revenge an earlier loss to Canisius last week. At the start of the game, both teams were playing tight defense as each team was forcing the other to take very selective shots. Going into the first media timeout, the score was knotted at 5 points a piece and both teams' offenses were looking to break out. Dellinger scored 10 consecutive points for the Lady J's to get Manhattan's offense going. With Manhattan holding onto a two point lead, 15-13 the Lady Jaspers went on a 10-4 run in the next four minutes to increase their lead, 25-17 with 5:27 left to play in the half. Canisius was not going away that easily as they came back to cut Manhattan's lead to three with 41 seconds left. Dellinger scored the last six points of the half for Manhattan including a deep three pointer as time expired to give the Lady Jaspers a 31-22 lead at the half.
Dellinger put up an astounding 22 points off of 8-10 shooting from the field for the Lady J's. Manhattan knew they had to keep their momentum going in the second half and not let the Golden Griffins get an advantage.
But Canisius showed their strengths as they came out at the start of the second half on a 4-0 run. The Golden Griffins got as close as three points off a jumper by Canisius' Brianna Lucas and with 11:10 left, Manhattan was clinging to a 41-38 lead. But, in the next seven minutes, the Lady J's defense locked it down as they went on a 10-0 run. From that point on, Manhattan held Canisius to just eight points as they rolled onto to another MAAC victory.
Dellinger grabbed five rebounds to go along with her 24 points in the game. Fellow senior Joann Nwafili scored 10 points off of 4-5 field goal shooting with three rebounds and dishing out two assists. Caitlin Flood narrowly missed a double-double once again as she scored nine points alongside her eight rebounds. Manhattan as a team tallied 8 steals, while forcing 18 Canisius turnovers tonight.
Manhattan improves to 12-9 overall and 7-3 in the MAAC. Head Coach Myndi Hill surpasses her wins in a single season, as it was previously held at 11 games. The Lady Jaspers will return to action on Sunday, February 3 as they will travel to Lawrenceville, N.J. to take on Rider University in a conference game. Tip-off is schedule for 2:00 p.m.
