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RIVERDALE, N.Y. - With a 63-47 victory over Iona at Draddy Gymnasium on Monday night, the Manhattan College women's basketball team established a new school record for regular season victories. The win, Manhattan's seventh straight, was the Lady Jaspers' 19th of the season, breaking the record of 18 set in 1982-83 and again in 2002-03.
In their annual "Pink Zone" game for breast cancer awareness, the Lady Jaspers (19-6, 11-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) got off to an uncharacteristically slow start, allowing the Gaels (9-17, 5-9 MAAC) to jump out to an 11-6 lead barely five minutes into the contest. Manhattan tied it at 13-13 on an Alyssa Herrington (Cambridge, N.Y.) layup midway through the first half, then took its first lead of the game when Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) hit a jumper to make it 17-16 at the 7:56 mark. The Lady Jaspers never trailed again.
A Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) offensive rebound and put back as time expired in the first half gave Manhattan a 29-24 advantage at intermission. The Lady Jaspers then opened the second half with a three-pointer from Herrington, and Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) followed with a jumper to extend the lead to 10 points, 34-24. Iona scored the next six points to get back within four at 34-30. However, a Peters jumper as the shot clock was about to expire on the other end sparked a 7-0 Lady Jaspers rally that pushed the lead back to 11 points, 41-30, with 12:24 remaining.
With the Lady Jaspers leading 48-39 with 6:33 remaining in the contest, Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine) was fouled while attempting a three-pointer. She made two of the free throws, and Manhattan outscored Iona 14-2 over the next 4:09 to turn a nine-point lead into a comfortable 63-41 advantage. The Gaels scored the final six points of the game to make the final margin 16 points, 63-47.
"This was a crazy game in that we had a slow start," Head Coach John Olenowski said. "But then we really picked it up. From the middle of the first half on, I thought we played great basketball."
Roeder, who was named MAAC Rookie of the Week earlier in the day, posted game-highs with 19 points and seven rebounds. She also distributed a career-high four assists. Wentworth finished with 10 points, five boards and three assists, while Loutsenhizer notched eight points and six rebounds to go along with a career-high six assists. Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde Park, Mass.) collected six rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench, as the Lady Jaspers outrebounded the Gaels 36-27, including a 16-8 edge on the offensive glass. Manhattan shot 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field, 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from three-point land, and 66.7 percent (10-of-15) at the charity stripe.
Diana Hubbard and Kristina Ford both had nine points to lead Iona. Tomica Bacic added eight points, while Milica Paligoric pulled down a team-high five rebounds. Four different Gaels handed out two assists each. As a team, Iona shot 37.8 percent (17-of-45) from the field, including just 26.3 percent (5-of-19) from downtown, and 66.7 percent (8-of-12) at the free throw line.
The third-place Lady Jaspers play their next two games on the road against the two teams ahead of them in the MAAC standings. Manhattan visits MAAC-leading No. 24 Marist (23-2, 14-0 MAAC) at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, then heads to Baltimore for a matchup with second-place Loyola (15-10, 12-2 MAAC) next Monday at 7 p.m. The Red Foxes and Greyhounds handed the Lady Jaspers two of their three conference losses this season.
"It doesn't get any easier," Olenowski said. "But we're playing at our all-time high right now. We're playing on all cylinders, and we'll look forward to that game on Friday night."
NOTES: Manhattan snapped a three-game losing streak against Iona and now leads the all-time series 41-21...The school record for wins in a season is 20, set in 1995-96 and 2002-03, but in each of those campaigns, the Lady Jaspers' 20th victory came in the MAAC Championship Game...The Lady Jaspers improved to 6-0 this season when outrebounding their opponent...Iona's 27 rebounds tied the lowest total given up by Manhattan this season; Cornell also had 27 boards on Dec. 21...Loutsenhizer's previous career-high was six assists against Canisius on Feb. 21, 2010...Roeder is averaging 20.0 points and 6.5 rebounds over the last two games...As a part of the "Pink Zone" initiative for breast cancer awareness, all fans who made a donation to the American Cancer Society received free admission.
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