Women's College Basketball
Manhattan College 75, Rider University 65
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
RIVERDALE, N.Y.?Despite 18 points from sophomore Tammy Meyers (Willingboro) and 17 points from senior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin), the Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at Manhattan Monday night. “We got our offense going a little bit and we had some success going with a smaller lineup in the second half on the defensive end,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “That kind of put us out of sync offensively.”
Trailing by 17 with 18 minutes left in the game, the Broncs used a 17-9 run, six points by Meyers to get within nine at 54-45 with 10 minutes remaining.
“Tammy is capable of shooting the ball well,” said Milligan. “She took good shots, 18 points on only eight attempts is terrific. We need her to do that on a nightly basis.” Meyers added five rebounds in 35 minutes of action, going a perfect three for three from three-point range.
Although out-rebounded 28-24, Rider held a 15-8 advantage on the offensive glass and caused 16 Jasper turnovers with eight steals, four by junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake).
“Our hustle was there, the defensive effort was there, we just ran into a hot team tonight.”
The Jaspers shot 63.4 percent in the game.
Trailing 70-58 with two minutes left, Rider went on a 5-0 run, three points by freshman Cintella Spotwood (Trenton/Trenton Central) cutting the Jasper lead to seven with 40 seconds left before the Manhattan sealed the game at the free throw line. Spotwood finished with seven points in 15 minutes of play.
Leading 24-21 with seven minutes remaining in the first half, Manhattan (11-7, 6-1 MAAC) went on an 8-0 run, opening up an 11 point lead with four minutes left in the first half. The Jaspers ended the first half on a 6-0 run and led by 14 (40-26) at intermission.
Trailing 22-12, Rider went on a 9-2 run, six points by Henderson to get within three with seven minutes left in the opening period. Henderson had three three-pointers and two assists in 39 minutes of action.
Manhattan has won five in a row over Rider and leads the all-time series 19-6.
The Broncs have lost six straight and host Fairfield on Friday night in a MAAC game at 7:00pm. “Fairfield is a well disciplined team and they execute their half court offense very well,” Milligan added. “They run a lot of half court sets and we are going to have to do a better job mixing up our defense and taking away some of the open shots we gave them last time. We are also going to have to take care of the glass. They beat us up pretty good inside when we saw them last week.”
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