Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – A whole new season began for the Manhattan College women's basketball team on Sunday. And that season got off to the best start the Jaspers could've imagined. Manhattan (2-8, 1-0 MAAC) opened Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) play and snapped its eight-game losing streak with a 72-56 triumph over Canisius (4-7, 0-2 MAAC) at Draddy Gymnasium.
“We looked at this as the start of a whole new season, and we played that way,” Head Coach John Olenowski said. “I was really happy to see us play the type of basketball that we know we're capable of.”
Canisius jumped out to an early 7-3 lead before the Jaspers got a layup from Allison Skrec (Roselle, N.J.) and a Monica Roeder (Marlton, N.J.) three-pointer to go up 8-7 with 13:37 left in the first half. After Jasmine Mungo hit a jumper to give the Griffs back the lead, 9-8, a Skrec layup started a 10-0 Manhattan rally that gave the Jaspers an 18-9 advantage midway through the first half.
The Griffs scored the next six points to pull within three at 18-15 before back-to-back buckets by Roeder and Blake Underhill (Edgewater, N.J.) brought the margin back to seven, 22-15, with 7:08 remaining before halftime. After Canisius again cut its deficit to four at 24-20, Manhattan ended the half on a 9-2 rally to take a 33-22 cushion into the locker room.
Manhattan converted a Shayna Ericksen (Long Valley, N.J.) steal into a Skrec layup to extend the margin to 13 points early in the second half before Canisius scored six of the next eight points to pull within nine, 37-28. The Jaspers were still up nine at 43-34 when a Roeder trey sparked a 7-2 run that pushed the lead to 14 points, 50-36, with 10:06 remaining.
However, Canisius continued to hang around, reducing the margin to nine points on four different occasions. After Crystal Porter got an offensive rebound and putback to make it 59-50 Manhattan at the 4:02 mark, Nicole Isaacs (Fair Haven, N.J.) drained a three from right in front of the Jaspers' bench, as the shot clock was winding down, to end any Canisius comeback hopes. Katie Reese (Boonton Township, N.J.) iced the victory by going 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final minute, as Manhattan wrapped up a 72-56 triumph.
“A lot of times when you're on a losing streak, teams get down and never get back up,” Olenowski said. “But we knew that the conference is what really matters and it was time to start playing our type basketball, which we certainly did tonight.”
Five different Jaspers had at least eight points in the game, led by Skrec's career-high 19-point effort. She also tallied three assists and three steals. Roeder finished with 18 points, six rebounds and three steals, while Nicole Anderson (Hamden, Conn.) registered a career-high 10 points. Underhill and Reese each added eight points and three assists. Ericksen grabbed six rebounds to go along with five steals, as Manhattan recorded 18 steals as a team. The Jaspers shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field, 33.3 percent (7-of-21) from long range, and 79.2 percent (19-of-24) at the charity stripe.
For Canisius, Kayla Hoohuli led the way with 13 points. Tiahana Mills added 12 points, five rebounds and four assists, while Porter tallied eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds. The Griffs outrebounded the Jaspers 39-32 and shot 37.8 percent (17-of-45) from the floor. Canisius was 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) at the free throw line, but went just 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) from downtown.
The Jaspers conclude their three-game homestand on Tuesday, when they welcome MAAC newcomer Monmouth (1-11, 0-1 MAAC) to Draddy Gymnasium for a 2 p.m. contest. Monmouth fell to Saint Peter's, 68-63, on Sunday.
NOTES: The Jaspers defeated Canisius at Draddy Gymnasium for the fifth consecutive season and have won seven of their last eight against the Griffs…Manhattan won its MAAC opener for the third straight year and the fourth time in Olenowski's five-year tenure…The Jaspers used their sixth different starting combination in as many games, and have now had eight different starting lineups this season…The 18 steals were Manhattan's most in a game since the Jaspers had 21 against Holy Cross in the quarterfinals of the Women's Basketball Invitational (WBI) on March 18, 2012…Manhattan's assist/turnover ratio was even, marking the fourth time this season that the Jaspers had a ratio of 1:1 or better…Skrec's previous career-high was 17 points at Rider on Jan. 31, 2013…Alex Cohen (Nashua, N.H.) made her collegiate debut in the game, recording a rebound and a steal in three minutes of action…Roeder moved past Meredith Morse into 14th place on Manhattan's all-time scoring list.