Women’s Basketball drops 75-73 heartbreaker to Manhattan in WBI Quarterfinals

((Contributed by Wright State Sports Information))

Senior guard LaShawna Thomas led the way with a double-double performance of 18 points and 11 rebounds along with five assists in her final game as a Raider. She finished her WSU career second on the all-time scoring list with 1653 points.

Wright State led by as much as 10 late in the first half, but Manhattan retook the lead with 2:33 remaining and held on in the final seconds for a 75-73 win over the Raiders Sunday in the Women’s Basketball Invitational quarterfinals at Wright State’s Nutter Center.

Eight straight points, including a pair of Maria Bennett threes, put WSU up 20-11 with 11:46 to play in the first half and a Ta-myra Davis layup gave the Raiders their biggest lead of the contest at 34-24 at the 2:25 mark before the Jaspers scored the final six points of the half.

Wright State shot 41 percent in the opening 20 minutes, including six of 13 from behind the arc, while Manhattan shot 31 percent overall and was five of 20 from three-point range.

A Shaunda Sandifer three-point play gave the Raiders a 44-36 lead with 15:42 remaining, only to see the Jaspers go on a 16-2 run over the next three minutes, five of those coming from Lindsey Loutsenhizer, to go in front 52-46 at the 12:25 mark.

The Manhattan lead was 61-54 before WSU used a 12-3 burst to go back ahead 66-64 with 4:42 to play. A Thomas foul shot with three minutes left made it 69-68, but that would be the final lead of the day for the Raiders as two Nadia Peters foul shots and a three from Schyanne Halfkenny put the Jaspers ahead 73-69 with 1:45 left.

Sandifer drew Wright State to within two at 75-73 on a jumper with 43 seconds left and the Raiders had a chance to tie or win it as Manhattan missed on its next possession. Bennett missed a deep three, but Sandifer grabbed the rebound and called timeout before going out of bounds with 1.5 seconds left.

WSU, however, would not get a shot off on the second chance as the inbounds pass was knocked loose as time expired.

Both teams shot the ball well in the second half as the Raiders shot 54 percent to end up at 47 percent and Manhattan 53 percent to finish at 42 percent, but the Jaspers were also seven of 13 from three compared to just two of seven for Wright State.

Thomas led the way with a double-double performance of 18 points and 11 rebounds along with five assists in her final game as a Raider. She finished her WSU career second on the all-time scoring list with 1653 points.

Sandifer also posted a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds while Davis and Bennett each had 12.

Loutsenhizer paced Manhattan (24-9), who will face UAB in the semifinals, with a double-double of 24 points and 13 rebounds while Monica Roeder chipped in 21 points and Abby Wentworth 10.

Wright State, which recorded the most wins in a season since moving up to Division I in 1987-88, finished with a final mark of 20-13.

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