Despite losing senior point guard Kiara Fisher to injury, Marist women’s basketball closed the gap numerous times against Manhattan, but the Jaspers held on and escaped with a 60-54 win.
Every time it seemed that Manhattan (12-4, 5-2 MAAC conference) was about to put the game out of reach, Marist (5-13, 3-5 MAAC) made a pivotal play to stay in it. And on numerous instances where it appeared Manhattan would finally relinquish their lead, senior guard/forward Ines Gimenez Monserrat made game-altering plays that culminated in a 20-point performance, which included 12 fourth-quarter points.
Marist and Manhattan traded empty possessions over the first few minutes of play, with missed shots and transition opportunities befalling both sides. Gimenez Monserrat made one of two free throw attempts at the 7:15 mark for the game’s first points, and then junior guard Catie Cunningham countered with a hook shot for Marist’s first points of the game.
Senior forward Zaria Shazer, who played the entirety of Marist’s last two contests and leads the MAAC conference in minutes per game (37.3), went on a heater later in the quarter. Her run included one of her patented midrange shots, a shot from the paint and then a couple of free throws to tie the game at eight apiece. The Jaspers suffered from tough luck with a few promising shots rimming out, including a graduate student guard Jayla James attempt from deep.
Cunningham asserted herself with under two minutes left in the quarter, fighting through contact to finish at the rim, drawing a foul and then making the ensuing free throw. After an 11-4 run, Marist led 13-10 at the end of the quarter.
Manhattan immediately tied things to start the second quarter, with Gimenez Monserrat draining a corner three. The Jaspers then retook the lead when playmaking junior guard Nitzan Amar, who is averaging nearly four assists per game, made a gorgeous feed to senior forward Jade Blagrove; Blagrove finished the possession by making a layup through a foul along with the free throw that followed.
Marist tied the game back up at 16 all when sophomore center Morgan Lee showed off her range by making a long-range three; after that, another Shazer midrange make gave her team the lead. The back-and-forth continued with Mahattan sophomore guard Anne Bair coming to life with two 3-pointers to stake her team out to a 24-20 lead three minutes before the break.
With 30 seconds left in the half, Fisher made her first bucket of the day on a 3-pointer from the left wing, making it a one-point game. On the half’s final possession, James immediately countered with a three-ball to give the Jaspers a 27-23 lead heading into the locker room.
Out of the break, Manhattan pushed their lead to seven with Blagrove connecting from deep. The Jaspers continued to create a cushion later in the quarter; James bluffed a three, instead driving inside on redshirt sophomore guard Lexie Tarul, making a layup and drawing a foul that resulted in a made free throw, putting Manhattan up 35-26.
Marist could not knock down their shots for most of the third quarter, exemplified by sophomore guard Jackie Piddock missing a wide-open corner three. Marist only scored six points in the quarter and trailed 37-29 with ten minutes remaining. Adding insult to injury was Fisher limping off the court with an apparent injury in the third quarter’s waning moments; Marist’s lead playmaker did not end up returning to the court.
Marist, fortunate to only be trailing by eight despite their offensive troubles, tried vigorously to take advantage of Manhattan’s inability to run away with the game. Out of the gate in the fourth quarter, a Piddock driving layup and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Julia Corsentino narrowed the deficit to three. Manhattan’s standout players then responded, with Gimenez Monserrat banking a 3-pointer and then assisting Bair in transition, who made her own three-point shot to put Manhattan up 43-34.
Marist responded yet again with another run that featured a Shazer step-back shot and four combined free throw makes from sophomore guard Morgan Tompkins and Piddock to make it 43-40. Once again, Gimenez Monserrat was not having any of it, immediately draining her third triple of the game.
A few possessions later, Lee drained her second triple of the game to bring Marist back within five, but Gimenez Monserrat responded for a third time with yet another three-point shot, good for a 51-43 Manhattan lead. Marist continued to fight over the game’s final few minutes; with 1:40 remaining, Tarul made a layup and drew a foul, narrowing the deficit to four when she made her free throw. After a foul call on senior forward Leyla Öztürk with Manhattan in the bonus, Shazer lined up and sank a free throw, making it 53-50.
Marist seemed to have all the momentum when Manhattan committed a 10-second violation with a minute left that gave the Red Foxes possession. After a Marist timeout and with a chance to tie the game, Tarul drew all the attention as the Marist’s best perimeter shooter this season (she is shooting 35.6% from deep). Noticing Manhattan’s defensive approach, Tarul kicked it out to an open Corsentino, but she could not connect on the great look.
After a few exchanged free throws, Manhattan led 55-51 with under 30 seconds remaining, but Marist still would not quit. This time, Corsentino drained a good look from three, making it a one-point game.
The game’s most pivotal play then unfolded, with none other than Gimenez Monserrat making a hard-earned layup inside, drawing a foul on Shazer and then burying the free throw to put the game out of reach.
“I feel like the DNA of this team is that every team is a team win,” said Manhattan head coach Heather Vulin during the ESPN postgame interview. “It’s always someone different stepping up and making a huge play.”
After facing the MAAC conference’s top two teams and coming up short, Marist gets a week off before facing Quinnipiac, who is in the middle of the pack in the MAAC, next Thursday at 7 p.m. in McCann Arena.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Cara Lacey; photo from Jaylen Rizzo
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X and TikTok, and sign up to receive daily alerts here.
