Box Score NORTH MANCHESTER, IND. – Manchester University gave its Class of 2015 team members an afternoon to remember Saturday, Feb. 14.
The Spartans, improving to 12-11 overall and 9-7 in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, jumped out of the gates with the first eight points and didn't look back, claiming a 60-45 win. After a first 20 minutes in which the home side struggled overall (33.3 percent) and outside the arc (35.7 percent) shooting-wise which kept their halftime lead at six (25-19), MU caught fire in the second half, hitting at a 53.6 percent clip from the field.
Two of the five seniors recognized prior to tip-off inside Stauffer-Wolfe Arena helped lead the charge. Senior center Alyssa Hammond (Osgood, Ind.) scored 10 points and proved difficult for the Mt. St. Joseph University offense with three blocked shots. Guard Alyssa Smith (Bluffton, Ind.) tallied 12 points and was equally as tough on the boards with 13 rebounds for her third double-double of the season. Junior guard Katie Arterburn (Indianapolis, Ind.) led the Spartans in scoring with 16 points due in large part to four three-point buckets.
Saturday's victory, added in with losses by Rose-Hulman and Defiance College, helped the Black and Gold leap-frog the Fightin' Engineers and Yellowjackets alone into fifth place on the league standings. They go into the final week of the regular season just a game behind Franklin College for fourth and only two games behind Bluffton University for third.
MU, winners of three of their last four, takes to the road Wednesday, Feb. 18, for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Defiance College.
NOTES: Smith added a team-high three steals to her double-double outing. It was her 16th multiple-steal contest of the year to go with her fifth double-digit rebounding effort. Her 139 rebounds are the most in a season for MU since Kelsey DeMott had a similar number in 2010-11 … Arterburn reeled off her sixth straight multiple three-point game. Her 52 treys are the most in a season for a Black and Gold player since Melissa Eltzroth converted 55 in 2010-11 … Senior guard Jocelyn Hamilton added a team-best five assists in her final home regular season game, while senior forward Abby Lang (Indianapolis, Ind.) ended with four points, four assists, two rebounds and two steals. Lang's third multiple-steal total in the last four contests and Hamilton's 19th overall and sixth straight multiple-assist game were part of the Class of 2015's 54th victory at MU … The Spartans' win was their 11th straight and 18th in the last 19 against MSJ.
