NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Manhattan Jaspers women's basketball team (11-11, 5-8 MAAC) was edged by the newest team in the MAAC, the Merrimack Warriors (10-13, 6-8), by a score of 71-69 inside Lawler Arena on Thursday evening.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Responding to Merrimack's opening trey from Melashenko, senior forward Ines Gimenez Monserrat adds a quartet of points with a pair of layups, followed by Nitzan Amar with a jump shot to tie the game at six.
- Senior forward Petra Juric logged her first couple of points of the night on a feed from Gimenez Monserrat to tie the game at 12.
- Gimenez-Monserrat stayed hot down the stretch of the first stanza with a buzzer-beating triple to cut Merrimack's lead to just one possession. The Mallorca, Spain product logged four of the first eight shots for the Jaspers with a trio of assists.
- The Massachusetts native Tegan Young put Manhattan in front with back-to-back buckets on a turnaround jump shot and a dribble-drive layup.
- Following a Merrimack missed a three-pointer, Amar converted a jump shot to force a Warriors timeout and put the Jaspers on a 14-2 run in five minutes.
- Graduate forward Leyla Ozturk netted home a bucket plus one to give the Jaspers a seven-to-none run to head into the locker room ahead of the Warriors by seven.
- Junior guard Hana Muhl registered her first three points on the board as she was contacted on a driving layup to extend the Jaspers' current run to 12-2.
- After a Merrimack 12-2 run led to a Warrior lead, Gimenez-Monserrat knocked home her third three-point basket to tie the game at 67.
- With 21 remaining, Amar sank home a tying jump shot to make it 69 all down the stretch.
- Following a foul underneath with six seconds remaining, two free throws for Merrimack clinched the Warriors its sixth conference victory.
STATS AND NOTES
- Senior guard Ines Gimenez Monserrat netted a season-high 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting. Gimenez Monserrat registered a trio of triples from distance, grabbed three rebounds, and assisted on four baskets. She also logged one block and one steal.
- Graduate forward Leyla Ozturk added 16 points to the scoresheet. Netted four free-throws out of five total attempts, grabbed six rebounds, and swatted away a pair in 34 minutes on the floor.
- The native of the Commonwealth, sophomore guard Tegan Young, logged four points on two-of-five from the floor with three rebounds and a team-high three steals in 29 minutes of action.
- After giving up three more points that logged in the first ten minutes, the Jaspers came roaring back in the second quarter with a +10-point margin in the second ten, shooting 77% from the floor.
- Manhattan outrebounded the Warriors 31-30 and 23-21 in defensive rebounds.
- The Jaspers won the paint battle 32-30 and logged six blocks on the evening compared to just one for Merrimack.
QUOTES FROM THE JASPERS
Head Coach Heather Vulin: "Tough MAAC road game versus Merrimack. Back and forth the whole game, both teams made big shots. Credit to Merrimack. They made the last one. Another great game by Seniors, Ines Gimenez Montserrat, and Leyla Ozturk."
NEXT UP:
Manhattan plays four of its next five inside Draddy Gymnasium. On Saturday, February 15, the preseason MAAC favorites and defending conference champions, the Stags of Fairfield University, will visit Riverdale for a 2 p.m. opening tip. The contest can be streamed on ESPN+ with a paid subscription.