Providence, R.I. ? Manhattan lost to Atlantic 10 opponent St. Joseph's University today in its first game of the 16th annual Brown University Tournament. Senior Caitlin Flood led all players with 18 points alongside fellow senior Gabrielle Cottrell's 11 points.
The first half was played dead even as both teams were playing strong defense. Either side did not have more than a six point lead during the first half as they Lady J's had six steals and caused 15 Hawk turnovers. St. Joe's went up 22-19 off of a Alexis Johnson layup with 5:30 left in the first half and that would be the last basket St. Joe's would score of the half. The Lady Jaspers held the Hawks scoreless for those 5:30 as they went into the half tied up at 22 points apiece. Senior Aubrie Dellinger drove hard to the basket to make a layup and draw the foul to push the teams to tie at 1:34.
With both teams playing even, Manhattan knew they were going to have to dig deep to get a victory. But St. Joe's came out of the gun in the second half, going on a 12-3 run to take a nine point lead at the first media timeout. The Lady J's stepped up their defense and would not let the lead get larger than seven points for the rest of the game. Down six with under a minute to play, Dellinger stepped up to hit a three with a hand in her face to cut Manhattan's deficit to three, 59-56. But the Hawks proved to be too strong as they pulled away in the end to take the game 64-58.
Flood's 18 points was a game high as she dished out four assists in the game and shot 7-8 from the free throw line. Freshman Nadia Peter's netted six points and grabbed four rebounds in her debut as a Lady Jasper. Manhattan shot 41.5% from the field as a team and tallied 10 steals on the day.
The Lady J's will return to action in the second day of the Brown University Tournament as they will take on Howard University in the consolation game, tomorrow at 1:00 p.m.
