Manhattan University Athletics

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Surviving and advancing is the motto of March in the college basketball world. The Manhattan women's basketball team knew that, fought to the bitter end, and walked away with a 59-56 victory over the Saint Peter's Peacocks in Tuesday afternoon's First Round of the MAAC Basketball Championship.

With the victory, No. 6 seed Manhattan moves on to the quarterfinals and will face the No. 3 seed Bobcats of Quinnipiac on Thursday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+. 

"I'm very proud of the team for showing resilience to come back to win that game," remarked head coach Heather Vulin. "Proud of the composure at the end of the game to fight back. We had a career game from Narrie Dodson, but it didn't happen overnight. Narrie has played well these last two to three weeks and has been a consistent contributor to what we have been doing these last couple of weeks in getting ready for the tournament; so proud of her."

"Brazil has been one of our primary kids since she stepped foot on campus two years ago. It was a great hot start from her. But I also thought she made some huge plays at the end of the game to help secure the victory."

Manhattan came out the gates firing from deep, with Brazil Harvey-Carr starting the game 4-4 from beyond the arc, forcing the Peacocks into calling a timeout with 6:14 left and Manhattan holding a 12-2 advantage.
 

Saint Peter's was not deterred by the hot start from Harvey-Carr and took control of the game from then on, ending the first half on a 7-0 run to take a slim lead, 31-28, into the locker room. SPU outscored the Jaspers 19-9 in the second quarter.
SPU then kept their lead for the entire third quarter. Anytime the Jaspers started building momentum, the Peacocks responded stronger, taking a 49-44 lead into the final 10 minutes.

The maturity of the Jaspers showed in the final 10 minutes. With just over five minutes to play, Dodson connected on back-to-back buckets to bring the Jaspers within two, 51-49. The Saint Peter's lead climbed back up to five off a Jada Leonard triple, but Manhattan responded each time Saint Peter's tried to pull away.

It would take until 26 seconds left on the clock for the lead to tick back over to the Green and White when Dodson received an entry pass and showed incredible vision in finding Petra Juric down low for an uncontested layup under the basket to take a 57-56 lead.
 

Saint Peter's would get to the rim on their next trip down the floor, but it was non-other than Dodson, who they ran into, as she rejected the shot, unleashing a massive yell with her teammates.
 

Games like this always have a hero, and Tuesday, that was Dodson, who poured in a career-high 20 points, with 16 of those coming in the second half. Dodson also hauled in eight rebounds and recorded three steals. Juric finished with a double-double, totaling 12 points and 10 rebounds, which were a game-high. Harvey-Carr finished with 16 points, four rebounds, and three thefts.

"Every day in practice, we go over different matchups, whether man or zone. Coach V and the coaching staff do a fantastic job preparing us for every game," said Dodson. "My teammates instill a lot of faith in me and trust me to be a slasher and do everything I need to do, whether it's the dirty work or playing cleanup, whatever it takes to win and execute that game plan to the best of my abilities. I think I did a really good job today, they put me in a position to score and get a career-high, and I appreciate it."

Follow Us on Social Media: For the latest on the Manhattan College women's basketball program, follow the Jaspers on Twitter @Manhattan_WBB and Instagram @Manhattanwbb and like "Manhattan Jaspers Women's Basketball" on Facebook.