Women's College Basketball
Manhattan College 56, Rider University 44
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
RIVERDALE, N.Y.--Rider freshman Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) had her third career 'double-double' with 10 points and 13 rebounds as the Broncs lost in the Bronx, falling at Manhattan 56-44 on Sunday afternoon at Draddy Gymnasium in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game.
Bopp played 24 minutes before injuring a knee with six minutes left in the game. "We don't know the severity of her injury," head coach Lynn Milligan said. "We are keeping our fingers crossed. She had another strong game for us. She hit the glass and also changed Manhattan's shot selection, forcing them to work more from the outside."
Manhattan (6-6, 1-0 MAAC) started the second half on a 13-2 run, opening up a 40-26 lead with 15:53 left.
Rider (2-10, 0-1 MAAC) got to within nine (45-36) at the 8:41 mark on a basket by freshman Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) but that was as close as the Broncs would get. Brown finished with nine points and five rebounds.
"Carleigh always plays hard," Milligan said. "She is a very smart player but we have to calm her down sometimes. When she gets frustrated, she makes a play that in hind sight, she would not try to make. She did a good job today and understood what the game plan was."
Rider led 8-4 before the Jaspers used a 10-2 run to take a 14-10 lead with 11:57 left in the first half.
Trailing 23-17, Rider got to within one at 23-22 with 3:29 left in the opening half on a three-pointer by senior Amanda Sepulveda (Perth Amboy/Hun). Sepulveda, Rider's leading scorer, was held to five points on two for 11 shooting. Sepulveda dished out five assists and is now 14th on the all-time assist list at Rider with 239.
The Jaspers led 27-24 at intermission.
The Bronc defense held Manhattan without a field goal for the final 6:13 of the opening half however the Jaspers went six for six from the foul line in the final five minutes of the period.
Trailing 4-2, Rider went on a 6-0 run, two points each by C. Brown, Bopp and senior Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, Pa/Villa Joseph Marie), taking an 8-4 lead five minutes into the contest.
Rider out-rebounded the Jaspers 42-34 but turned the ball over 25 times, leading to 27 Manhattan points. The Jaspers had 13 steals in the game.
"Manhattan played a very aggressive 1-3-1 defense," said Milligan. "You prepare for it in practice but it is hard to simulate live game action. We had some silly turnovers and some panic on the wings at times. When we reversed the ball, we got some good looks. We just didn't do that enough."
This was the MAAC opener for both squads.
This was the 29th meeting all-time between Rider and Manhattan with the Jaspers winning 22. The Jaspers have won nine of the last 10 over the Broncs.
Rider is now 4-9 in its 13 MAAC openers with the last win coming during the 2002-03 season.
The Broncs have lost three straight and travel to Saint Peter's for a MAAC game at 7pm on January 5. The Peahens lost to Fairfield 57-49 on Sunday.
"Their guards are their top three scorers," Milligan said of the Peahens. "They play a lot of half court man and half court 2-3 so we are going to have to take care of the ball a lot better than we did today. We also have to do a better job at making open looks. We missed a lot of shots that we need to make in order to be competitive."
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