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POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Manhattan College women's basketball team entered Friday night's contest having won 11 of its previous 12 games, with the only stumble coming against Marist on Jan. 22. Since that game, the Lady Jaspers had won seven in a row. That streak came to an end on Friday night, however, as the No. 24 Red Foxes (24-2, 15-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) jumped out to a 22-4 lead and never looked back en route to a 60-42 victory over the Lady Jaspers (19-7, 11-4 MAAC) at the McCann Center.
"The start was the game," Head Coach John Olenowski said. "When you get down by that much, there's no way you can come all the way back against a team as good as Marist."
Marist scored the first eight points of the contest and led 22-4 before back-to-back buckets by Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) and Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) made it a 14-point game midway through the first half. However, the Red Foxes responded with a pair of three-pointers to push their advantage to 20, and they took a 39-16 advantage into the locker room. Marist shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) from the field and 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from three-point range in the period.
The Lady Jaspers opened the second half on an 8-4 run, pulling back within 19 when a Roeder trey made the score 43-24 with 14:27 left. However, Brandy Gang responded with a three on the other end to spark a 13-5 Marist rally that brought the lead back to 29 points, 58-29, at the 8:29 mark. The Lady Jaspers held the Red Foxes to just one field goal from that point on, outscoring Marist 13-2 the rest of the way to cut their final deficit to 18 points, 60-42.
"We played hard in the second half," Olenowski said. "We can take the positives out of that second half and carry them over into our next game against Loyola."
Roeder drained four three-pointers and paced the Lady Jaspers with 14 points. Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine) tallied nine points, six rebounds and six assists, while Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.) had seven points, six boards and four steals. Manhattan shot 36.6 percent (15-of-41) from the field, 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from downtown, and 55.6 percent (5-of-9) at the charity stripe.
Gang had 19 points on 8-for-9 shooting for Marist. She also grabbed four rebounds and notched three steals. Corielle Yarde finished with 10 points, while Kate Oliver posted nine points and five rebounds. Erica Allenspach also tallied five rebounds, as the Red Foxes outrebounded the Lady Jaspers 29-25. Elise Caron distributed five assists for the Red Foxes. As a team, Marist shot 47.9 percent (23-of-48) from the field, including 42.9 percent (9-of-21) from beyond the arc, and 71.4 percent (5-of-7) at the free throw line.
The third-place Lady Jaspers hit the road again on Monday night, when they visit second-place Loyola (15-10, 12-2 MAAC) at 7 p.m. The Greyhounds posted a 78-61 victory over Manhattan at Draddy Gymnasium on Jan. 2 in each team's MAAC opener.
NOTES: Manhattan leads the all-time series 22-19...The seven-game winning streak was the program's longest since winning 13 straight from Jan. 7-Feb. 21, 2003...The Lady Jaspers haven't lost to a team other than Marist since Jan. 4...Both of Manhattan's road losses this season have come against nationally-ranked opponents, Marist and then-No. 20/23 St. John's on Nov. 16...Manhattan forced Marist, the team that averages the fewest turnovers in the nation, into 14 giveaways, including nine in the second half...Schyanne Halfkenny (Hyde Park, Mass.) made her first start since the Maryland Eastern Shore game on Dec. 6 and tallied eight points...Wentworth made her 100th career start in the game...Manhattan was held without a bench point for the first time all season.
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