The Misericordia University women's basketball team's furious fourth-quarter rally came up just short in a 55-53 loss to Manhattanville, Saturday afternoon in the Anderson Center.

Justine Seely led the Cougars with 15 points and eight rebounds and Shannon Croasdale added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Trailing 47-32 with 8:12 left in the game, the Cougars closed the quarter on a 21-8 run.

Seely and Croasdale both made two free throws to pull MU within 51-44 with 5:07 to go and Forsyth found Croasdale driving the right side for a layup to cut it to 51-46 on the next possession.

Alexa Plitt hit a pull-up jumper in the lane to cut the margin to three, 51-48, with 3:34 left.

After a Manhattanville basket, Japriya Carroll buried a three-pointer from the left wing to get within 53-51 with 2:45 to play.

Seely tied with a pair of free throws with 2:02 remaining.

Manhattanville scored the eventual game-winner with 1:45 to go and neither team scored the rest of the way.

The Cougars fell behind early and trailed 23-11 after the opening quarter, but held steady in the middle two quarters to set up their fourth-quarter comeback.

Down 31-14 with 3:26 to go in the second quarter, Plitt nailed a three-pointer from the left wing and Croasdale added a putback layup.  Seely followed with a driving layup to get within 31-21 with less than a minute to in the first half.

Forsyth found Rachel Carmody for a driving layup to open the third quarter and pull MU within 33-24.  The teams traded baskets throughout the period and Manhattanville led 43-31 heading into the final stanza.


Misericordia, 5-10 (1-3), will travel to King's, Wednesday.