Women’s College Basketball: Rider University 60 Manhattan College 57

LAWRENCEVILLE — Trailing 55-50 with 4:34 left in the game, the Rider University women’s rallied with an 8-0 run to take a 58-55 lead and the Broncs held on for a 60-57 win over Manhattan College in a Metro Atlantic Athletic game on Thursday evening (Jan. 31).

The Broncs have won three straight games.

Rider (10-10, 5-4 MAAC) was led by sophomore Emily Fazzini (Wayne, Pa./Archbishop Carroll.) who had 12 points, 11 points from freshman Mikal Johnson (Manassas, Va./Osbourn) and a ‘double-double’ from junior MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) who had 11 points tied a career-high with 16 rebounds.

The MAAC Player of the Week for all games last week and a Second Team Preseason All-MAAC honoree, McKenzie recorded her 21st ‘double-double and ninth of the season.

Trailing by five with 4:34 left, Johnson made a three-pointer to cut the Jasper lead to three and graduate-student Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) had a three-point play to put Rider in the lead 56-55, the 14th and final lead change of the contest with 2:36 left.  C. Brown finished with six points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists in 31 minutes after being pressed into the starting lineup due to the illness of senior Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre dame).

Johnson converted two free throws as the Broncs led 58-55 with 1:24 remaining.

After a Jasper jumper by Monica Roeder with 1:06 left, McKenzie made two free throws with 37 seconds remaining for the final score. 

Manhattan had a final chance to tie the game after a time out with 8.6 seconds remaining but the Bronc defense held strong as Manhattan (5-15, 2-7 MAAC) could not get a final shot off.

Roeder finished with a game-high 23 points.

Trailing 46-42, Manhattan went on an 11-2 run as the Jaspers took a 53-48 lead with 5:58 remaining in the game.

Manhattan opened the game with an early 12-7 lead, five minutes into the game on the strength of  seven points by Allison Skrec.  Skrec finished with 17 points.

Rider used a 5-0 run, three points by Johnson to tie the game 12-12 with 13:46 left in the opening half.

Another Johnson three-pointer and a free throw by C. Brown put Rider in the lead 21-18 halfway through the opening period.  Johnson had three of Rider’s eight three-pointer in the contest.

Tied at 25-25, Rider used a 5-0 run, with three Bronc players hitting the scoring column as Rider led 30-25 2:39 before the half.

Manhattan hit a three-pointer at the buzzer, cutting the Bronc lead to 33-32 at intermission.

Trailing 38-36, Rider used an 8-0 run, five points by freshman Manon Pellet (Marseille, France) as the Broncs opened up their largest lead of the game, 44-38 with 15:07 left in the second half.  Pellet tied a career-high with eight points.

Manhattan scored 15 of the next 21 points to take a 53-48 lead with 5:58 left in the game.  The Jaspers held Rider to one field goal over a span of 8:16 during the run.

Rider entered the game 57th nationally, shooting 73 percent from the free throw line but shot only 16-27 (59 percent) in the game.

Rider held a 43-39 rebounding advantage and the Broncs won despite being out-shot 40 percent (22-55) to 30 percent (18-60).

Rider swept the season series from the Jaspers, having won in Riverdale, New York, 48-41 on Jan. 6. 

This is Rider’s 10th win in 36 tries against Manhattan.

Rider’s last MAAC series sweep came against Niagara University, during the 2010-11 season.

This was Rider’s third MAAC win in a row.  The last time the Broncs won three conference games in a row was Jan. 11-18, 2009 when Rider defeated Manhattan, Loyola University and Iona College.

This was Rider’s second home conference win in a row.  The last time the Broncs won two conference games in a row in Alumni Gym was Feb. 19-21, 2003 when Rider defeated Marist College and Iona.

Rider hosts Niagara on Saturday at 2 p.m.  The Purple Eagles defeated Rider 62-58 on Jan. 18 at the Taps’ Gallagher Center.  The Purples Eagles lost 71-68 at Loyola Thursday evening.