NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Purple Eagles were resilient enough to overcome deficits in each half on their way to a 48-43 victory over the Manhattan Jaspers on Sunday afternoon at the Gallagher Center.
 
“We’ll focus on the positives right now - it’s a win on Senior Day, we a great job defensively, I thought we finished the game well, with game management and we made free throws when it mattered, we took care of the basketball, and got it inbounds correctly,” head coach Kendra Faustin said.
 
Niagara (14-13, 9-7 MAAC) spotted Manhattan (6-21, 3-13 MAAC) a 10-0 lead out of the gate and would see the deficit grow to 16-5 with under eight minutes played.  After trading baskets, the Purple Eagles took off on a 13-2 over seven minutes to take a one-point, 23-22, lead with two minutes left in the half.  Sylvia Maxwell contributed four points, as did Shy Britton, who finished with 14 points off the bench.  The lead would change hands three times in the final two minutes but the Jaspers went into halftime with a 26-25 advantage.
 
After the Jaspers added a point to their lead at the beginning of the second half, Meghan McGuinness hit consecutive three pointers for six of her game-high 20 points and put the Purple Eagles in front 32-28.  They would give up the lead only once, for a total of 72 seconds, before taking it back for good. 
 
Britton and Kelly Van Leeuwen hit each of their combined four free throws in the final four minutes and, combined with a very late putback by Lauren Gatto, cemented the five-point, 43-48 victory. 
 
“We talked about in the second half that if we defended the way we did in the last six minutes of the first half that it would be a positive and that we had to do a better job getting the ball inside, moving the basketball, and being patient on offense,” said Faustin.  “For the most part we did that in the second half.”
 
McGuinness’ 20 points are two shy of her career record.  The sophomore from Lincroftt, N.J. hit six of her 10 shots from the field, all of which came from beyond the arc.  Britton added a game-high eight rebounds to go along with her 14 points, one rebound shy of career-mark.  Maxwell and Kayla Stroman tied with three steals apiece.
 
“[Britton and McGuinness] did a great job,” Faustin said.  “I think people are really concerned with Lauren on the inside so they’re stuck in there and it gave Meghan some good looks, it allowed Shy to get into some gaps, and we took advantage of that.”
 
As a team, Niagara outrebounded Manhattan 30-26 and outscored their bench 21-0.  It also hit 11-of-15 shots from the free-throw line. 
 
The team honored its pair of seniors on Sunday as forward Jess Flamm, manager Rene’e Polka, and their families were honored with a pre-game ceremony.
 
The Purple Eagles are back on the court next Friday with a Battle of the Bridge matchup against the Canisius Golden Griffins at 7 p.m.  It is the final Free Friday of the year, so admission is free to the general public.