Box Score
FAIRFIELD, CT – Nyasha Irizarry (Brooklyn, NY) registered a career-high 19 points and the Manhattan College women's basketball team (6-7, 3-1 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) shot a combined 92 percent (23-of-25) at the free throw line in a 70-55 victory over Fairfield (6-8, 1-4 MAAC) at Alumni Hall on Friday morning. The victory was John Olenowski's 50th conference win as head coach of the Jaspers.
Manhattan scored the first five points of the game and led 8-4 before the Stags went on a 7-0 run to go up 11-8. After the Jaspers knotted the score at 15-15, Kristine Miller sank a layup for Fairfield with 25 seconds left in the first quarter. Taylor Williams (Windsor, CT) missed a three on the other end and the Stags' Kristin Schatzlein secured the rebound. Casey Smith then sank a trey as the quarter expired, giving Fairfield a 20-15 advantage.
A three-pointer by Samantha Cooper put the Stags in front 23-20 with 5:40 left in the second quarter, but the Jaspers responded with a 10-0 run to open up a 30-23 cushion. After Fairfield got a pair of buckets to trim its deficit to three, 30-27, Crystal Ross (Philadelphia, PA) hit a layup on the final play of the first half, extending Manhattan's lead to five points, 32-27, at the break.
The Stags opened the third quarter on a 10-2 spurt to go ahead 37-34. However, Amani Tatum (Cambria Heights, NY) followed with a layup to make it a one-point game, then Shayna Ericksen (Long Valley, NJ) hit a jumper to give the lead back to Manhattan, 38-37, with 4:08 left in the period. The lead changed hands three more times before Irizarry drained the second of back-to-back three-pointers at the 2:36 mark to put the Jaspers ahead for good, 44-42.
After taking a 50-44 lead into the fourth quarter, Manhattan extended its advantage to eight points when Mikki Guiton (Schwenksville, PA) opened the final period with a jumper. Fairfield scored seven of the next nine points to again make it a three-point margin, 54-51, before Irizarry drove for a layup with 7:13 remaining.
It would remain 56-51 until another Irizarry layup at the 4:36 mark pushed the Jaspers' cushion to seven points. After a Cooper layup got the Stags back within five at 58-53, Manhattan went 12-for-12 at the free throw line over the final 3:27 to close out a 70-55 victory.
Irizarry sank all five of Manhattan's treys in the game, as the Jaspers went 5-for-14 (35.7 percent) from downtown. Tatum finished with 16 points and four steals, while Jacqui Thompson (Southampton, PA), Blake Underhill (Edgewater, NJ) and Ericksen collected seven points apiece. Thompson added a team-high three assists. Kayla Grimme (Altoona, PA), meanwhile, corralled eight rebounds. Manhattan shot 44.7 percent (21-of-47) from the field, and each squad grabbed 31 rebounds.
Cooper and Smith paced the Stags with 16 points apiece. Cooper also pulled down eight rebounds, while Miller tallied 10 points and seven boards. Lizzy Ball handed out five assists for Fairfield, which shot 40.7 percent (22-of-54) from the field. The Stags went 4-for-16 (25 percent) from long range and 7-for-11 (63.6 percent) at the charity stripe.
On Sunday, the Jaspers conclude their four-game road trip with a 2 p.m. visit to Siena (7-7, 4-0 MAAC). The Saints swept the season series in 2014-15 and have won eight of the last nine meetings between the squads.
NOTES: Fairfield is the most common opponent in program history…The Jaspers and Stags met for the 81st time, with Fairfield leading the all-time series 44-37…Manhattan snapped an eight-game losing streak against the Stags and won at Alumni Hall for the first time since a 52-44 triumph on Jan. 16, 2011…Irizarry's previous career-high was 16 points, which she achieved twice, most recently in the season-opening win at Fairleigh Dickinson… Irizarry became the second Jasper this season to drain five three-pointers in a game, joining Williams, who did it against Brown on Nov. 29…Underhill reentered the starting lineup after coming off the bench at Iona…Manhattan improved to 5-0 this season when scoring at least 60 points…It was the first of three “Kid's Day Out” games in which the Jaspers will participate this season.