LEWISTON — Niagara’s first win of the season was within reach early in the second half.
All Niagara needed was a couple stops and a couple baskets and they would have been in a position to win their first game of the season.
That is until it slipped from their grasp when three empty possessions in a row in quick succession coupled with a Manhattan 20-6 run spelled doom for the hosts.
The Manhattan run completely sapped the energy from Niagara who got more and more dejected as their deficit grew in a 74-53 loss.
The Purple Eagles started the second half with possession and could not miss over the first three and a half minutes putting together a 13-6 run where they shot 6-for-8 from the field and trimmed their deficit to 35-31. But they could not keep it up and headed into the final quarter down 55-37.
“I think we convinced ourselves we were a little bit tired because you know they were going to go on a run,” Niagara head coach Jada Pierce said. “They call a timeout, they come out of it. They’re ready to go on a run and I think we just didn’t capitalize on what we had been doing.”
One of the biggest differences that led to Manhattan’s win was their height advantage where their center, Colette Mulderig had a three inch height advantage on Niagara’s center, Tyasia Freeman. Manhattan had four players that were 6-feet or taller whereas Niagara only had three players at 6-feet or taller.
“I thought we went with a bigger lineup in the third quarter,” Manhattan head coach Heather Vulin said. “We put (Agar Farrés Garcia), who normally plays the four for us, at the three and altered the offense a little bit. I thought they just had a really good chemistry with that group and then also defensively we were scoring but defensively we were getting stops, so we were able to push the lead.”
The Jaspers’ length impacted the game in a multitude of ways on both ends. The visitors collected five blocks and 12 steals while also owning a 45-29 advantage on the glass and a 40-24 lead on points in the paint.
Mulderig was a big part of that, where she had a double-double scoring 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting while also grabbing 10 rebounds and swatting away two shots.
“I definitely think it helped,” Mulderig said about her team’s height advantage. “I think we still could’ve done better with rebounding. But I think that it definitely did help of course.”
The Purple Eagles season long shooting struggles continued in this game where they shot 3-for-15 from distance and 18-for-59 from the field. Despite the loss and the 0-15 record, Pierce would rather look on the bright side than dwell on the negatives.
“I thought we really scrapped,” Pierce said. “I thought three out of four quarters was really good. The second part of that third quarter really hurt us when they went on that run going into the fourth quarter. But I thought holding them to 28 points in that first half was huge.”
The Purple Eagles at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 14, when they host Canisius.