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Yasmine Djibril looks to make a pass after grabbing a defensive rebound in the first half of a 2025 MAAC Women's Basketball Championship game in Atlantic City, N.J.
Stockton Photo, Inc.
42
Canisius Canis 10-21,9-11 MAAC
52
Winner Manhattan MC 16-14,9-11 MAAC
Canisius Canis
10-21,9-11 MAAC
42
Final
52
Manhattan MC
16-14,9-11 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Canisius Canis 13 6 13 10 42
Manhattan MC 10 20 11 11 52

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women’s Basketball Season Ends with Loss to Manhattan

Manhattan guard Nitzan Amar scored a team-high 11 points and dished out five assists while teammate Kristina Juric came off the bench to add 10 points and seven rebounds to help lead the eighth-seeded Jaspers to a 52-42 win over the No. 9 seed Canisius in the opening round of the 2025 Hercules Tires MAAC Women's Basketball Championship Tuesday afternoon in Atlantic City, N.J.
 
With the victory, Manhattan (16-14) advances to play top-seed Fairfield in the tournament's quarterfinal round on Wednesday, while the Golden Griffins see their season end with a record of 10-21.
 
Canisius sophomore Shariah Gailes scored a team-high 11 points off the bench for the Blue and Gold, while freshman Yasmine Djibril added eight points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Graduate student guard Jaela Johnson chipped in five points, five rebounds and a team-high six assists in her final collegiate contest, while junior Franka Wittenberg matched a season-high with nine rebounds.
 
Leading 7-6 midway through the first quarter, Canisius stretched its lead to 13-6 with 1:36 left in the opening frame thanks to back-to-back 3-point makes by sophomore Mary Copple and Johnson. Despite turning the ball over five times in the opening 10 minutes, Manhattan closed the gap to just three points at the end of the first after Amar hit a jumper from just inside the free-throw line as the quarter horn sounded, sending the teams to the benches with Canisius up 13-10.
 
A pair of free-throw makes by Gailes just 1:26 into the second quarter tied the game at 15-15, but Manhattan took the lead for good moments thanks to a pull-up jumper by Amar. That bucket started a 7-2 run for the Jaspers over the game's next 4:41 that put Manhattan up 22-17 with 3:34 left before halftime. The Jaspers went into the locker room at the intermission up 30-19 after Manhattan scored eight of the final 10 points of the opening half, capped by a lay-up with 1.6 seconds left on the clock by Juric off a pass from Amar.
 
A Juric jumper from just outside the paint with 6:47 left in the third quarter made the score 34-23 in favor of the Jaspers, but the Griffs battled back and cut the Manhattan lead to four thanks to a 7-0 run over the contest's next 2:01. In that run, Gailes scored four points and senior Cory Santoro knocked down a corner-three off the feed from Johnson on the fastbreak. That would be as close as Canisius would get, however, as Manhattan answered with the game's next five points to drive its lead back to nine points at 39-30 with 3:00 remaining in the third stanza.
 
HEAD COACH TIFFANY SWOFFARD'S POSTGAME COMMENTS
"First and foremost, I want to thank our administration for giving me an opportunity, and secondly, I want to thank my players. I have 15 phenomenal women who took a chance on me and believed in what it is that I want to do and the vision I have to build this program. I am so incredibly grateful for how they showed up every day."
 
"We were picked 13th (in the MAAC Preseason Poll), and by no means were we a No. 13 team. They believed in the process. They worked to elevate their games, and they worked to elevate their level of cohesion to get us into the MAAC Tournament in year one. So to that group of young women, I'll never have another first team, and I am so eternally grateful for them saying yes to me, and believing, and getting us here."   
 
GAME NOTES
• Tuesday marked the eighth time Canisius and Manhattan have met in the MAAC Women's Basketball Championship. The Griffs have played more conference tournament games against the Jaspers than any other team in the league.
• As a team, Manhattan registered 11 blocked shots, led by forward Leyla Ozturk, who was credited with eight of those blocks.
• Canisius recorded eight steals in the losing effort, led by junior Mariam Sanogo and Djibril, who had two each. That stands as the most steals in a game for the Griffs since the team had 13 swipes in the home win over Niagara back on Feb. 11.
• Gailes' 11-point performance on Tuesday marked her 14th game with 10-or more points scored this season.
• For Johnson, who played in her 132nd career collegiate game on Tuesday, he six assists gave her five-or more assists in six games this year.
• Wittenberg's nine rebounds matched her previous season high, set March 1 at Iona.
• All eight of Djibril's points came in the game's second half. She and Gailes accounted for 15 of the Griffs' 23 second-half points on the day.
 
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