Big Green Suffer First Loss of Season at Manhattan

Sunday, December 1

Riverdale, N.Y.

2:00 PM

Dartmouth College

3-1,0-0Ivy League

Manhattan

2-4,0-0MAAC

Dartmouth

Manhattan

Sophomore Katie Douglas

Photo by: Doug Austin

Big Green Suffer First Loss of Season at Manhattan

12/1/2019 4:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Dartmouth cut the gap to three in the fourth, but came up short

By: Mike Miezejeski

BRONX, N.Y. – Dartmouth closed the gap to three points midway through the fourth quarter, but Manhattan finished the game on a big run to hold on and capture its first home win of the season, 70-58, at Draddy Gymnasium Sunday afternoon. The Big Green (3-1) suffered their first loss of the year, while the Jaspers (2-4) snap a two-game losing streak.

Anna Luce led the Big Green in scoring for the second time this season with 16 points and swiped a career-high five steals. Annie McKenna finished with 11 points, a career-high eight rebounds and five assists, and Katie Douglas was also in double figures with 10.

Manhattan had four players in double figures led by Sydney Watkins, who had 20.

"The second half worked because we came out with great effort and we were in tune with our communication," said Belle Koclanes, the Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82 and Family Head Coach of Women's Basketball. "We tightened up our skills and went to our zone, which is a major growth opportunity for us, and that is the beauty of non-conference. We fought but we need to do that for 40 minutes. We will learn from today and we will play better in Chicago."

Luce sank a 3-pointer to start the scoring, but Manhattan used its home-court advantage to go on a 15-0 run spanning over four minutes to go on top, 15-3. Dartmouth then made a slow climb back into the game as McKenna converted a 3-point play and continued to stay hot with two more buckets. The Big Green closed the quarter on a 9-4 run to cut the deficit to 19-12 after one.

Manhattan, who scored the final basket of the first, kept up its momentum and tallied the first 14 of 16 points of the second to jolt themselves to a 33-14 advantage. Three straight baskets from Luce, Veronica Kelly and Douglas with Luce scoring again after a couple Jasper free throws brought the score to 35-22 with 1:25 on the clock. The Jaspers then hit two at the line, extending their lead to 15 at the break.

Asha Taylor knocked down a corner three to open the third, sparking a 7-0 run, to lower the gap to 37-29 with 7:04 on the clock. Manhattan then hit a triple and made a layup, extending its lead to nine. Luce got the Big Green back in it with five consecutive points and Louie made a driving layup to bring the score to 42-38, forcing a Jasper timeout, with 2:18 left in the quarter. Manhattan responded and finished the quarter on a 7-2 run to stay on top, 49-40.

The Jaspers began the fourth on a 5-2 run to take a 54-42 advantage. Taylor and Douglas gave Dartmouth a spark with back-to-back triples followed by a traditional 3-point play by Douglas to close the gap to 54-51 with 6:44 left in regulation. That was as close as the Big Green would get as Manhattan closed the game on a 16-7 run to pick up its first home win of the season.

Dartmouth now looks forward to its trip to the Windy City where they will first face Loyola Chicago on Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.