RIVERDALE, N.Y. – On Saturday afternoon at Draddy Gymnasium, the Niagara women's basketball team posted a 53-46 victory over the Manhattan Jaspers and snapped its three-game losing streak.
 
With the win, Niagara sweeps the season series against Manhattan as the Purple Eagles (9-12, 5-7 MAAC) defeated the Jaspers (2-18, 1-10 MAAC) earlier this season on Dec. 7, 64-36. Niagara had three players hit double-digits on the scoreboard.   Meghan McGuinness led the team with 17 points with Victoria Rampado and Taylor McKay both contributed 10 points.
 
This was the ninth time this season Niagara had three players make it to double-digits in the same game.  The last time was in the 59-45 victory over Monmouth on Jan. 18 on the road.
 
"I thought we had some younger players that haven't had a ton of minutes make some huge impact plays for us," head coach Kendra Faustin said.
 
McGuinness not only finished the game with a team-high 17 points, but added six rebounds and four assists. The guard also shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe. Rampado went 3-for-4 from the field, shot a flawless 4-for-4 from the foul line and was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. McKay also brought down seven rebounds and had two steals.

Kelly Van Leeuwen dished out a team-high five assists for her ninth consecutive game while Donisha Watson rejected three Manhattan shots.

NU held the lead throughout the whole game, however, the Jaspers tied the score on two occasions. The Purple Eagles took their largest lead of the game, 24-13, with 2:37 left to play in the first half. Manhattan was able to put together a 10-2 run to trail 26-23 going into halftime.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair until Niagara pushed away to a 47-37 lead with 2:20 remaining in the game. The Jaspers were forced to foul, but NU maintained its composure to walk away with the 53-46 victory.
 
Niagara outrebounded Manhattan, 44-30, which was the 15th time this season the Purple Eagles outrebounded their opponent and sixth time in the last seven games. The Purple Eagles hit 40.9 percent of their shots from the floor and was13-of-19 (68.4 percent) from the charity stripe. 
 
The Purple Eagles look to carry this momentum into their next game as they host the Marist Red Foxes at 7:00 pm on Thursday.