Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY – The Manhattan College women's basketball team overcame a 12-point first-quarter deficit to tie the game after three on Saturday afternoon. It was still tied midway thru the fourth before Bucknell (3-1) pulled away for a 61-56 victory over the Jaspers (1-2) at Draddy Gymnasium.
Bucknell scored the first seven points of the game and led 16-4 with 3:08 left in the period. A Blake Underhill (Edgewater, NJ) layup on the next possession ignited a 10-2 Manhattan run, though, and the Jaspers trailed by only four, 18-14, after one quarter. After a Nyasha Irizarry (Brooklyn, NY) jumper made it a two-point game early in the second, neither team scored for more than three minutes before Jacquie Klotz hit a pair of free throws to start a 6-0 Bison run that pushed Bucknell's lead back to eight, 24-16. However, Manhattan got two free throws from Jacqui Thompson (Southampton, PA) and a bucket from Shayna Ericksen (Long Valley, NJ) to bring the margin back to four, 24-20, at intermission.
Manhattan evened the game on Kylla Champagne's (Paterson, NJ) jumper at the 7:56 mark of the third quarter, but the Bison responded with a 7-0 rally to go up 31-24 with 5:28 remaining in the period. The Jaspers slowly chipped away at the lead and knotted the score at 37-37 on a Crystal Ross (Philadelphia, PA) layup. Morgan Graziano (Holmdel, NJ) then drained free throw to give Manhattan its first lead of the game before a free throw by Bucknell's Megan McGurk sent the contest into the fourth quarter deadlocked at 38-38.
A Klotz jumper to start the fourth gave Bucknell back the lead, but Ross immediately countered with a layup. The teams would trade baskets for the next few minutes before an Ericksen offensive rebound and put back evened the score at 43-43 with 5:01 to play. Klotz responded with a pair of layups, though, to give the Bison a four-point advantage. Bucknell led by two, 49-47, after a Ross layup at the 2:47 mark, but the Bison then went on a 6-0 rally to push the margin to eight, 55-47, with just over a minute left. It was still an eight-point game, 61-53, with six seconds left when Maeve Parahus (Congers, NY) sank a three to cap the scoring in the Bison's 61-56 victory.
Ross led the Jaspers with 16 points, while Irizarry finished with eight points. Underhill and Parahus added six points apiece, and Underhill also tallied five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Kayla Grimme (Altoona, PA) pulled down a team-high seven boards to go along with two assists and two steals. As a team, Manhattan shot 33.9 percent (21-of-62) from the field, 21.4 percent (3-of-14) from long range, and 61.1 percent (11-of-18) at the free throw line.
Jacquie Klotz tallied 33 points and 19 rebounds to lead Bucknell. Claire DeBoer contributed 12 points and six assists, while McGurk finished with nine points and four assists. Sune Swart was credited with three blocks for the Bison, who outrebounded the Jaspers 40-32. Bucknell shot 41.5 percent (17-of-41) from the floor, 12.5 percent (1-of-8) from downtown, and 72.2 percent (26-of-36) at the charity stripe.
After playing two straight at home, Manhattan hits the road on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. matchup with New Hampshire (3-0). The Wildcats posted a 58-54 win over the Jaspers last season at Draddy Gymnasium.
NOTES: This was just the third all-time meeting between the Jaspers and Bison, and the first since Nov. 28, 2004…Manhattan leads the all-time series 2-1…Bucknell was the first of three Patriot League teams the Jaspers will face this season…Manhattan used a different starting lineup for first time this season, with Grimme replacing Ross in the starting five…Grimme has 12 blocks in three games this season…Graziano's third-quarter free throw was her first collegiate point…Bucknell committed 25 turnovers in the game, the most by a Manhattan opponent since Niagara had 26 on Jan. 31, 2015…The Jasper men's and women's teams both played at home against the same opponent on the same day for the first time since a doubleheader with Iona on Feb. 9, 2009.