Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY – Trailing by nine points entering the fourth quarter, the Manhattan College women's basketball team (7-10, 4-4 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) outscored Iona (10-9, 6-2 MAAC) 23-7 in the final period to post a come-from-behind 63-56 victory at Draddy Gymnasium on Monday afternoon. The win snapped the Jaspers' three-game losing streak.
Iona led 49-40 after three, but Manhattan began the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run to take the lead. Kayla Grimme (Altoona, PA) got the rally started with a layup, then Nyasha Irizarry (Brooklyn, NY) drained a trey and Blake Underhill (Edgewater, NJ) hit a jumper to pull the Jaspers within two. Irizarry sank a three-pointer on an inbounds play at the 5:38 mark to give Manhattan the lead, 50-49. Iona's Alexis Lewis responded with a layup before an Underhill layup put the Jaspers back in front. After Marina Lizarazu gave the Gaels a 53-52 lead, Irizarry nailed her third trey of the quarter to give Manhattan the lead for good, 55-53, with 3:03 left. It was the 11th and final lead change in a contest that also featured five ties.
An Amani Tatum (Cambria Heights, NY) three extended the margin to five, 58-53, with 1:14 to play, and she went 4-for-4 at the foul line to make it a nine-point game, 62-53, with 25 seconds remaining. After an Irizarry free throw pushed the lead to 10 points, 63-53, Lewis hit a late three-pointer for the Gaels (just Iona's third basket of the quarter) to account for the final score.
“That fourth quarter was the best we've played all year,” Head Coach John Olenowski said. “Everyone did a terrific job. I'm so proud of this group.”
Neither side was able to build a lead of more than three points in the first quarter. Iona was in front 14-11 with 10 seconds left in the opening stanza when Maeve Parahus (Congers, NY) drove for a layup to get Manhattan within one, 14-13, entering the second period.
After Grimme opened the second quarter with a layup, the Gaels went on a 5-0 run to open up a 19-15 advantage. However, Manhattan scored five of the next six points to regain the lead, 21-20. Iona responded with an Aaliyah Robinson three-pointer before a jumper by Shayna Ericksen (Long Valley, NJ) tied it at 23-23 with 3:49 left until halftime. It was still deadlocked at 25-25 when the Gaels went on a 5-0 run to end the half and take a 30-25 advantage into the break.
It was still a five-point game, 36-31, midway through the third quarter when Iona went on a 7-1 rally to open up its largest lead of the contest, 43-32, with 3:38 left in the period. The Jaspers pulled within six at 43-37 before the Gaels used another 6-1 spurt to push the margin back to 11 points, 49-38, with 53 seconds remaining in the third. Irizarry hit a layup at the 25-second mark, though, bringing Manhattan within nine, 49-40, after three quarters.
“We played every quarter really hard,” Olenowski said. “In the third quarter, we didn't get down when they got up nine. I was very confident heading into the fourth quarter because I thought we were very focused today.”
Irizarry had 13 of her game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, including the two go-ahead treys. Tatum finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Grimme posted a double-double. She tallied 13 points and 12 rebounds to go along with four blocks. Kylla Champagne (Paterson, NJ) added eight boards, as Manhattan outrebounded Iona 48-31. Underhill distributed four assists in the victory. As a team, the Jaspers shot 39.7 percent (23-of-58) from the field, 33.3 percent (5-of-15) from three-point land, and 75 percent (12-of-16) at the free throw line.
Robinson paced the Gaels with 12 points. Joy Adams, the MAAC's second-leading scorer and leading rebounder, was held to 11 points and nine boards. Lizarazu finished with nine points and seven assists, while Philecia Gilmore tallied eight points. Iona shot 35 percent (21-of-60) from the floor, 34.8 percent (8-of-23) from downtown, and 42.9 percent (6-of-14) at the charity stripe.
The Jaspers conclude their four-game homestand on Thursday, when they take on Saint Peter's (4-13, 2-6 MAAC) at 5 p.m. in a contest that will be broadcast live on ESPN3. It will be the start of a Manhattan basketball doubleheader, as the two-time defending MAAC champion men's team will face Monmouth at 8 p.m. That contest will also be shown on ESPN3.
NOTES: Manhattan snapped a seven-game losing streak against Iona and improved to 45-29 all-time against the Gaels…The Jaspers and Gaels split the season series for the first time since the 2008-09 campaign…Manhattan won despite trailing at halftime for the second time this season and won after trailing thru three quarters for the first time this year…The Jaspers are now 6-1 this season when scoring at least 60 points…After going 1-for-11 from three-point range over the first three periods, Manhattan made all four of its attempts from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter…Irizarry drained at least four three-pointers for the fourth time this season…Grimme recorded her third double-double of the season, and her first since notching 10 points and 10 rebounds at New Hampshire on Nov. 24…With four blocks, Grimme moved into fourth place on Manhattan's all-time list.