By Ronak Patel
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Lady Jaspers were a model of offensive efficiency in their 63-47 victory over on Rider Monday night at Draddy Gymnasium.
Put it this way, Manhattan had 22 field goals and the only one on which an assist didn't occur was senior point guard Abby Wentworth's steal and lay-in with 7:50 left in the first half that gave the Lady Jaspers a 20-9 lead. That comes out to a 95.5 percent efficiency rate of assists to field goals.
Eight different players recorded assists for the Lady Jaspers (13-6, 5-3 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference), including a new career-high by Wentworth, who had nine, which bests her previous high of six against NJIT and Lafayette earlier in the season. To boot, Wentworth, the team's captain, had no turnovers.
"I wasn't hitting too many shots so I was trying to drive and kick the ball," said Wentworth, who also scored 11 points. "That's pretty good to have that many assists; we played pretty well as a team offensively and running a lot of offense that have a lot movement and getting the ball from side to side.
"It's really nice to hear our offense is not focused on one person and it's not just one-on-one. We are really passing the ball well."
The Lady Jaspers moved the ball crisply throughout the game against Rider's 2-3 zone defense. The field goals came at opportune times for Manhattan, which had to fight off a Rider team that it easily defeated 71-43 just 11 days ago.
With the score 5-4 early on in favor of the Lady Jaspers, Manhattan used a 13-0 run to stretch the lead to double-digits. Wentworth made a nice skip pass to freshman swingman Monica Roeder, who drained the three-pointer to give Manhattan a 9-4 lead. On the next Manhattan possession, Schyanne Halfkenny scored on a lay-in off a nice pass from senior Alicia Marculitis to make the score 12-4. Then Alyssa Herrington drained one of her five three-pointers to up the lead to double-digits at 15-4. Her shot was set up by a nice kick-out pass from Halfkenny, who was getting double teamed in the post.
"We were successful because we were working the ball inside and out," Wentworth said. "Alyssa made them come out, and she made some big shots. When they came out to guard her, it opened up things on the inside."
Coach John Olenowski said the team's precision passing begins at the top with Wentworth.
"We've been valuing the ball better and taking care of it. Our turnover ratio has been really good all season," said Olenowski, whose team has a 0.9 assist-to-turnover ratio (248 assists to 291 turnovers) on the season. "It starts with Abby; she's been doing such a great job handling the basketball."
On several important occasions in the second half, Wentworth made pinpoint passes to her teammates that led to easy baskets that nullified Rider's comeback attempt.
Early in the second half, after Rider cut the lead to 29-20 with 18:51 left in the game, Wentworth made a nice pick-and-roll slip pass to redshirt junior forward Nadia Peters, who scored on the lay-in to up the lead back to double-digits at 31-20. Later in the second half, Rider cut the lead to 43-36, but Wentworth found junior forward Lindsey Loutsenhizer for the lay-in to make the score 45-36. On the following possession for Manhattan, Wentworth found Loutsenhizer for an easy lay-in once again. Peters followed up with a nice slice through the lane for a lay-in and was fouled. The passer once again was Wentworth. By the time Wentworth was finished her passing tirade against Rider's defense, Manhattan had a 51-38 lead on another Herrington three-pointer.
"We started off kind of slow, but we came together and picked up the intensity," Wentworth said.
With the next three conference games on the road - beginning with at Canisius this Friday at 4:30 p.m. (televised nationally on ESPNU), the team is jelling offensively at the right time. Add that to a stout defense, and the Lady Jaspers are in prime position to contend in the MAAC.
"We came in making sure to get up for this game and to come in and get a win," Wentworth said. "We have important games coming up."
