RIVERDALE, N.Y. - For the Manhattan College women's basketball team, game one of the John Olenowski era is in the books. And to call it successful would be an understatement. All 13 players on the roster got involved in the fun, as the Lady Jaspers (1-0) forced 35 St. Francis (NY) (0-1) turnovers that led to 37 Manhattan points in a 71-34 season-opening victory at Draddy Gymnasium on Friday night.
"This was a great win and a good way to start the season," said Olenowski, who became the third coach in program history to win his first game at the helm. "Our defensive pressure was the key. It created chaos on their end and really opened up our offense."
After an Amber Lau layup gave the Terriers an early 4-2 lead, the Lady Jaspers held St. Francis (NY) without a field goal for over eight minutes. Manhattan took advantage of nine St. Francis (NY) turnovers during that span to open up a 14-5 advantage midway through the first half. The Terriers finally got back on the board when Amber Lau drained a layup that made it 14-7 with 7:44 left in the half, but Manhattan responded with a 13-0 run and opened up a 20-point, 27-7 lead, on Alyssa Herrington's (Cambridge, N.Y.) three-pointer with 2:34 remaining. Kerri White (Flushing, N.Y.) sank another trey, Manhattan's fifth of the half, with 18 seconds remaining to increase the Lady Jaspers' lead to 26 points, 35-9, at intermission.
Manhattan held St. Francis (NY) to 20 percent (4-of-20) shooting in the first half, including 0-for-10 from three-point range, and forced 23 Terriers turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine) had four of Manhattan's 14 first half steals.
The Lady Jaspers kept rolling in the second half, going up 53-16 on a layup by Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde Park, Mass.) with 13:14 remaining. The lead reached 40 points when a Michelle Pacheco (Bronx, N.Y.) jumper made it 58-18 at the 10:57 mark. After a Jacinda Williams layup cut Manhattan's lead to 38 points, 60-22, with 7:35 to go, the Lady Jaspers responded with an 11-0 run over the next 4:30 to open up their largest lead of the game, a 49-point, 71-22 advantage. St. Francis (NY) scored the final 12 points of the game, and brought the final margin back under 40 when Autumn Lau sank a three-pointer with three seconds left. The 37-point margin of victory is Manhattan's largest since an 80-39 win over Brown on Dec. 8, 1999.
Every Manhattan player saw at least three minutes of action, and 11 of the 13 scored. Pacheco tallied a game-high 19 points and added four assists and four steals. Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) registered 11 points and six rebounds to go along with three assists and a career-high five steals. Laura Rivera (Elmont, N.Y.) also reached double figures in the scoring column, chipping in a career-high 11 points in 17 minutes off the bench. Wentworth finished with four steals and six rebounds. Manhattan had 21 steals and committed just 19 turnovers. The Lady Jaspers shot 40.9 percent (27-of-66) from the field, including 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from three-point range, and 47.1 percent (8-of-17) at the free throw line.
Autumn Lau had a double-double for St. Francis (NY) with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Kendra Williams added eight points and six boards for the Terriers, who outrebounded the Lady Jaspers 44-42. The Terriers shot just 24.5 percent (12-of-49) from the field and 9.5 percent (2-of-21) from behind the arc. St. Francis (NY) shot 57.1 percent (8-of-14) at the charity stripe.
Manhattan faces a completely different foe in its next contest, as the Lady Jaspers hit the road for the first time this season to take on Virginia (1-0). The Cavaliers, who are ranked 14th (AP) and 18th (ESPN) in the two major national polls this week, opened their season with a 68-57 victory over UMBC on Friday night. The contest, which can be heard on Virginia's official website, www.virginiasports.com, gets underway at 2 p.m.
NOTES: The 34 points allowed is the lowest total surrendered by the Lady Jaspers since Rider scored 34 in a 59-34 Manhattan victory on Jan. 5, 2006...Manhattan defeated St. Francis (NY) in the season opener for the second straight year and improved to 12-1 all-time against the Terriers...Manhattan has won the last 12 meetings between the schools...The Lady Jaspers knocked off the same team in back-to-back season openers for the first time since beating Fairleigh Dickinson to start the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons...The Lady Jaspers improved to 17-15 all-time in season-opening games...Manhattan opened the season with a home win for the first time since 2003-04, when the Lady Jaspers beat Central Florida 68-47...The win over Central Florida was Myndi Hill's first game as Manhattan's head coach.