ALBANY, N.Y. - The Manhattan College women's basketball team (15-15) saw its 2009-10 season come to an end on Friday with a 66-54 loss to Niagara (13-17) in the quarterfinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships at the Times Union Center. Playing in her final game as a Lady Jasper, senior Michelle Pacheco (Bronx, N.Y.) tallied a team-high 11 points.
"Niagara had more energy and outplayed us today," Head Coach John Olenowski said. "We seemed a step behind all night and didn't apply our usual defensive pressure."
It was close early on, as there were six lead changes in the first half. Niagara jumped out to a 5-2 lead before back-to-back layups by Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) gave the Lady Jaspers a 6-5 advantage at the 13:27 mark. Niagara went back in front, 11-8, on a three-pointer by Liz Flooks before a 6-2 Manhattan run gave the Lady Jaspers a 14-13 lead with 7:11 left in the half.
However, Rachele Folino nailed a trey on the other end ignite a 7-2 Niagara rally that put the Purple Eagles back in front, 20-16, with 3:18 remaining before halftime. The Purple Eagles increased their lead to six points when Meghan Waterman's jumper made it 24-18 before Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) hit a layup to cut Manhattan's deficit to four, 24-20, at intermission.
The Purple Eagles stormed out of the gate in the second half, starting the period on an 18-9 run to open up a 42-29 lead. Manhattan got back within 10 when Abby Wentworth's (Portland, Maine) traditional three-point play cut Niagara's lead to 44-34 at the 9:12 mark, but that's as close as the Lady Jaspers would get the rest of the way. The Purple Eagles responded an 11-2 run over the next 4:26 and run their lead to a game-high 19 points on a deep trey from Flooks that made it 55-36 with 4:45 remaining.
Niagara's lead stayed around 19 points until the 2:28 mark, when a Pacheco three-pointer sparked a minor Manhattan rally. The Lady Jaspers scored 12 of the final 17 points, but came up short, 66-54. With the victory, the fifth-seeded Purple Eagles advanced to the MAAC Semifinals, where they will meet top-seeded Marist at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
Pacheco had five assists and four rebounds to go along with her 11 points. Maggie Blair (Briarcliff, N.Y.) added 10 points in just four minutes off the bench, while Peters finished with nine points and six rebounds. Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde Park, Mass.) played a career-high 34 minutes off the bench and contributed eight points. She also notched a career-high four steals and tied a career-best with seven rebounds. Wentworth also posted eight points, while Loutsenhizer registered six points and eight rebounds, as the Lady Jaspers outrebounded the Purple Eagles 37-34. Manhattan shot 35.4 percent (17-of-48) from the field, 33.3 percent (3-of-9) from three-point range, and 73.9 percent (17-of-23) at the line.
Flooks drained five three-pointers and finished with 17 points. She added three steals. Kayla Stroman, the MAAC Rookie of the Year, also had 17 points and dished out six assists. Folino posted 13 points and eight rebounds, while Jaclyn Konieczka had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She also handed out six assists. Niagara shot 43.3 percent (26-of-60) from the field, including 50 percent (10-of-20) from downtown, and 50 percent (4-of-8) at the charity stripe.
"We had a very young team this year, with Michelle as our only senior," Olenowski said, "and we bring all of that experience back. Our number one goal for this season was to finish in the top four of the MAAC, and we achieved that, so I'm optimistic going into next year."
NOTES: The loss snapped Manhattan's four-game winning streak against Niagara...Manhattan leads the all-time series 22-21...Manhattan is now 1-1 all-time against Niagara in the MAAC Tournament...The Lady Jaspers dropped their first game of the MAAC Tournament for the third straight year, and have lost four straight MAAC Tournament games overall...Manhattan hasn't won a MAAC Tournament game as the No. 4 seed since 1986...Blair's 10 points in the final 3:07 were the first 10 points of her career...Halfkenny's previous career-high was two steals against Vermont on Nov. 28, 2008...She previously had seven rebounds against Rider on Jan. 3...Olenowksi's 15 wins this season were the second-most for a first-year head coach in program history, and he became just the second Manhattan head coach to finish with a record of .500 or better in his first season at the helm...Manhattan College Hall of Famer Kathy Solano, the program's all-time winningest coach, went 17-10 during her first season in 1983-84.