Box Score
AMHERST, Mass. ? Sakera Young made the front end of a one-and-one with three seconds remaining, then got her own rebound after missing the second and drained a layup as time expired to give Massachusetts (1-1) a 71-68 victory over the Manhattan College women's basketball team (1-1) at the Mullins Center on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Jaspers were up 44-25 at halftime and led by as many as 20 points in the second half before the Minutewomen staged a furious rally to claim the victory.
With 15 seconds left and the score tied at 68-68, Massachusetts' Diatiema Hill missed a layup and Lindsey Loutsenhizer (North Huntingdon, Pa.) grabbed the rebound. Manhattan head coach Myndi Hill called timeout to set up a final play, and Kelly Regan's (Williamsville, N.Y.) hook shot was halfway down before falling out. Young pulled down the rebound for the Minutewomen and was fouled by Nadia Peters (Bronx, N.Y.). Her free throw gave Massachusetts its first lead of the game, and her rebound and layup after intentionally missing the second capped the Minutewomen's come-from-behind victory.
Massachusetts began its comeback in earnest after Abby Wentworth (Portland, Maine) nailed a three to increase Manhattan's lead to 20, 53-33, with 16:08 remaining. After a Loutsenhizer trey made it 59-41 at the 13:32 mark, Manhattan went nearly five minutes without a field goal. Regan's layup with 8:46 remaining ended a 14-1 Massachusetts rally, but the Lady Jaspers then went another six minutes without a field goal. The Minutewomen cut the lead to one before a layup by Michelle Pacheco (Bronx, N.Y.) brought Manhattan's lead back to three at 67-64 with 2:51 to go.
Kim Benton sank a layup on the other end to again make it a one-point game, then Regan went 1-for-2 at the free throw line to put the Lady Jaspers up 68-66. A layup by Hill tied the game for the first time since early in the first half with exactly one minute left on the clock, setting up the final flurry of activity.
The Massachusetts rally was a stark contrast to the first half, when it was the Lady Jaspers who went on the big scoring spurt to open up a lead that reached as many as 24 points. With the score knotted at 8-8, Loutsenhizer's first career three-pointer ignited a 13-0 Manhattan rally over the next 3:30 that put the Lady Jaspers in front 21-8. After Stefanie Gerardot nailed a free throw to get UMass back on the scoreboard, Manhattan went on a 17-5 run and opened up a 24-point advantage when Annie McIntyre (Portland, Ore.) hit a three to make it 38-14 with 5:28 left in the half. Massachusetts chipped away for the remainder of the half, cutting the lead to 17 twice, and trailed 44-25 at intermission.
Regan finished with 17 points, four rebounds and two assists for the Lady Jaspers, while Loutsenhizer tallied 14 points for the second straight game. She also grabbed six rebounds in 31 minutes off the bench. Wentworth tallied nine points, six boards and two assists for the Lady Jaspers. McIntyre registered seven points to go along with a team-high five assists, and Alyssa Herrington (Cambridge, N.Y.) had eight points and three assists. Peters grabbed six boards. As a team, the Lady Jaspers shot 34.4 percent (22-of-64) from the field, including 42.1 percent (8-of-19) from three-point land, and 69.6 percent (16-of-23) at the free throw line.
Gerardot posted a career-high 24 points to lead all scorers and added seven rebounds. Young had 10 points for the Minutewomen. Hill distributed a game-high six assists to go along with her nine points, while Benton added eight points and three assists for Massachusetts. UMass shot 45.9 percent (28-of-61) from the field, including 53.1 percent (17-of-31) in the second half. Massachusetts shot 23.5 percent (4-of-17) from beyond the arc and 52.4 percent (11-of-21) at the charity stripe. The Minutewomen held a 49-33 edge on the boards.
The Lady Jaspers conclude their season-opening three-game road trip on Wednesday night against another Atlantic 10 opponent, as Manhattan heads across town for a 7 p.m. “Battle of the Bronx” matchup with Fordham (0-1). The Rams dropped their season opener 69-57 to Princeton on Friday night and have lost 35 consecutive games.
NOTES: The Minutewomen ended the game on a 38-15 run...This was the first all-time meeting between Manhattan and Massachusetts...Manhattan is now 27-31 all-time against current members of the Atlantic 10 Conference...Freshman Laura Rivera (Elmont, N.Y.) made her collegiate debut, playing four minutes...Kerri White (Flushing, N.Y.) scored her first collegiate points with a pair of three-pointers in the first half...The Lady Jaspers left for Amherst on Saturday morning and toured the Basketball Hall of Fame in nearby Springfield, Mass., on Saturday afternoon.