RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Manhattan women's basketball took down Quinnipiac today 72-66, in an overtime thriller on Breast Cancer Awareness Day.
Manhattan improves to 16-8 overall and 9-6 in league play, while the Bobcats fall to 10-14 and 7-8 in the MAAC.
The Jaspers were led by double-doubles from Petra Juric who recorded 18 points and 11 rebounds, as well as Leyla Ozturk who scored 16 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Ines Gimenez Monserrat who scored 20 points and dished out six assists for Manhattan.
Anna Folley took charge for the Bobcats recording a game-high 28 points. Ava Sollenne added 13 points for Quinnipiac.
"Incredibly proud of our effort and grit tonight," said Head Coach Heather Vulin. "It was a great MAAC win, I thought everyone that played really battled. I was really impressed with Leyla. She's consistently been one of our best players this year, and she's playing like a senior on a mission right now."
The Jaspers started off hot with Gimenez Monserrat connecting on consecutive three-pointers to start the ballgame. The Jaspers would go up 8-2, before Quinnipiac would begin to start getting shots to fall. The teams traded baskets for the rest of the quarter, before a buzzer-beating half-court shot put Quinnipiac up 20-19 at the end of the first. Manhattan came out in the second quarter with a focus on getting to the hoop, reclaiming the lead, 27-26 with 5:44 to play in the half. The Jaspers would only allow five more points the rest of the half, allowing them to extend the lead to 37-31 at the half.
In a low scoring third quarter, the Bobcats would outscore Manhattan 11-9, closing the gap to 46-42 entering the final quarter. Within two minutes of the fourth, Quinnipiac was able to tie the game, 48-48. The Jaspers responded with baskets by four different players, bringing the lead back up to 58-52 with 4:47 to play. After a couple of baskets by each team, the score was 62-58, in favor of the Jaspers. A pair of Bobcat free throws and a defensive stop gave Quinnipiac the ball down two with 15 seconds to play. The Bobcats drew up a play to get Folley to the basket and executed it perfectly knotting things up with three seconds remaining. The Jaspers could not convert their final in bounds play sending the game into overtime.
Ozturk set the tone in overtime, converting on back-to-back layups to put the Jaspers up four. Quinnipiac would respond with four points of their own, once again tying the game up, 66-66 with 52 seconds to play. Manhattan would once again go to Ozturk who would score another layup with 26 seconds remaining, to take the lead. After a big defensive stop, Ozturk would seal the game, going 4 of 4 from the free throw line. She would score all 10 points for the Jaspers in overtime coming up huge in securing the win.
Manhattan takes the court again Thursday, February 22, when they take on Canisius for a 7 p.m. tip off at Draddy Gymnasium.
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