PURCHASE, N.Y. – Despite playing just 23 minutes, Sarah Coutu(Cranston, R.I./Cranston East) dominated both sides of the ball for the Manhattanville College women's basketball team on Saturday, Dec. 29 in an 85-43 win over the Goucher College Gophers in non-conference action from Kennedy Gymnasium.
The sophomore tied her career-high with 26 points -- including a career-best six three-pointers – while grabbing six rebounds, dishing out four assists and recording seven steals, her third 7+ steal game of the season for Manhattanville (10-0). FreshmanAli Mikaele (Silver Spring, Md./St. Andrew's Episcopal School) posted her first collegiate double-double with 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds, including five on the offensive glass. Senior Kayleah McGuire (Somers, N.Y./Somers) added 11 points and seven rebounds while sophomore Jykayla Elting (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Roy C. Ketcham) added seven points, five rebounds, three assists and a block in just 10 minutes. Alayna McFadden posted a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double for Goucher (4-6).
Manhattanville opened the game with eight straight points, as the Valiants forced three Gophers turnovers while the visitors missed their first eight shots from the floor. With the score 8-3 and three minutes remaining in the quarter, Coutu's first three of the day opened a 12-2 run for Manhattanville over the next 1:45, capped by a three-pointer from Elting. The Valiants carried a 20-7 lead to the second quarter.
Coutu scored nine points, via a three-point play and two three-pointers, recorded a steal and added an assist as part of an 11-1 Manhattanville run early in the second quarter. Coutu finished the quarter with 12 points, giving her 15 in the opening half; Mikaele grabbed six boards in the quarter, giving her seven points and nine rebounds for the half.
After the teams traded baskets over the first three minutes of the third quarter, Coutu went to work again, going 4-for-4 from the floor, including three more from three-point territory, as she tied her career-high with her sixth three-pointer at the 4:38 mark of the quarter. However, two quick fouls, her third and fourth, paired with Manhattanville's large lead, sent her to the bench for the rest of the game with 2:10 left in the period.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Valiants' reserves, as senior Geena Catalano (Madison, Conn./Daniel Hand), sophomore Karina Cruz (Kissimmee, Fla./Poinciana), freshman Nicole Trapp (Moodus, Conn./Nathan Hale-Ray High School) and sophomore Julia Borsari(Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) made all five of their shots, combining for 11 of Manhattanville's 16 points in the quarter, igniting one raucous reaction after another from the Manhattanville bench.
Manhattanville will ring in the new year with a road game on Wednesday, Jan. 2 against the D-II Nyack College Warriors at 5:30 p.m.