Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY – Casey Smith's layup with 1.2 seconds left gave Fairfield a 59-57 victory over the Manhattan College women's basketball team on Saturday at Draddy Gymnasium. The Jaspers (6-10, 3-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) had one last chance to tie it and send the game to overtime, but Crystal Ross' (Philadelphia, PA) layup at the buzzer was off the mark and the Stags (8-9, 3-5 MAAC) held on for the win.
A Kayla Grimme (Altoona, PA) jumper gave the Jaspers a 57-55 lead with 1:09 remaining before Kelsey Carey responded with a bucket on the other end to tie it, 57-57, at the 45-second mark. Amani Tatum (Cambria Heights, NY) missed a three-pointer and Fairfield grabbed the rebound with 17 seconds left. The Stags held for one shot, and Smith put her team ahead with 1.2 seconds to go. Manhattan then called timeout and advanced the ball into the frontcourt. The inbounds pass went to Ross under the basket, but the shot didn't fall and the Jaspers suffered their third straight defeat.
Tatum paced Manhattan with 14 points to go along with four assists, while Grimme tallied 13 points, eight rebounds and three steals. Shayna Ericksen (Long Valley, NJ) finished with 11 points and four boards. Nyasha Irizarry (Brooklyn, NY) pulled down a career-high eight rebounds, as the Jaspers held a 41-27 edge on the glass (including a 20-5 advantage on the offensive end). Kylla Champagne (Paterson, NJ) handed out four assists for Manhattan, which went 26-for-68 (38.2 percent) from the floor. The Jaspers shot 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from three-point land and 66.7 percent (2-of-3) at the free throw line.
There were seven ties and seven lead changes in the contest, with neither side holding an advantage of more than nine points. Fairfield maintained a four-point advantage for most of the first quarter before Ericksen hit a layup, then added a free throw, to make it a one-point game, 14-13, with 39 seconds left in the period. Kelsey Carey sank a layup on the other end, though, and the Stags took a 16-13 lead into the second quarter.
After an Ericksen jumper brought Manhattan within one, a Ross layup at the 8:10 mark of the second quarter gave the Jaspers their first lead of the game, 17-16. Tatum added a layup before a steal and bucket by Jacqui Thompson (Southampton, PA) made it 21-16 with 6:42 left in the half. However, the Stags ended the quarter on a 13-2 spurt and took a 29-23 advantage into the locker room.
Fairfield extended its lead to nine points, 34-25, on a Kristin Schatzlein trey early in the third quarter before a Grimme layup started a 12-0 Manhattan run that put the Jaspers up 37-34 with 2:24 left in the frame. After back-to-back Fairfield baskets gave the lead back to the Stags, Blake Underhill (Edgewater, NJ) drained a deep jumper at the nine-second mark to give Manhattan a one-point cushion, 39-38, entering the final period.
“I thought the third quarter was our best quarter of the game,” Head Coach John Olenowski said. “We really came out with energy and got the lead, and we did some really nice things in that quarter.”
Manhattan pushed its lead to six, 44-38, on a Tatum three-pointer with 8:07 to go. However, Fairfield rallied back, knotting the score at 51-51 with 4:06 left. Irizarry and Underhill gave the Jaspers two-point cushions at 53-51 and 55-53, but the Stags tied the game each time.
Smith finished with a game-high 16 points and added three assists for the Stags. Carey and Schatzlein notched 14 points apiece, while Kristine Miller had 10 points off the bench. Samantha Cooper grabbed a team-high five rebounds to go along with five assists. Fairfield shot 51 percent (26-of-51) from the field, 25 percent (3-of-12) from downtown, and 66.7 percent (4-of-6) at the charity stripe.
The Jaspers continue their season-long four-game homestand on Monday with a 2 p.m. matchup against Iona (10-8, 6-1 MAAC). The Gaels posted a 67-56 victory when the squads met in New Rochelle on Jan. 2 and have won seven straight against Manhattan.
NOTES: This was the second matchup between the teams in eight days…The Jaspers and Stags split the season series for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign…Fairfield is the most common opponent in program history…This was the 82nd all-time meeting, and the Stags lead the series 45-37…Irizarry's previous career-high was five rebounds against American on Dec. 17, 2014…Manhattan had more assists than turnovers for the second straight game and the fourth time this season…The Jaspers grabbed 40 rebounds for the fifth time this season and the first time since pulling down 46 at Quinnipiac on Dec. 12…Manhattan has lost its last three contests by a combined nine points.