Women's Basketball 12/20/2008 5:00:00 AM Canisius College Athletics

Women's Basketball Dominates New Hampshire

DURHAM, N.H. ? The Canisius College women's basketball team continued its solid defensive play, forcing 26 turnovers en route to a 64-37 victory at New Hampshire at the Lundholm Gymnasium on Saturday night. The 37 points allowed are the fewest allowed by the Golden Griffins in a road game since the program went to the Division I level in 1986-87. Canisius (6-4) has now won three straight and five of its last six.

Senior Marie Warner led Canisius with 20 points to go along with nine rebounds. Junior Brittan? Russell had 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Canisius outrebounded New Hampshire 47-35 and held the Wildcats to 26.8 percent shooting from the floor.

“Tonight's game was our team coming in and executing our defensive game plan,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “We didn't shoot the ball well and when that happens, a team needs to focus on defense for 40 minutes and we did that tonight.”

Canisius held New Hampshire without a field goal to start the game for close to eight minutes and forced the Wildcats into 14 first-half turnovers. The Griffs built a 14-3 lead before Candace Williams scored the first basket for the Wildcats to make it 14-5 at 12:15.

The Griffs would then go on an 11-3 run, with all 11 points coming from Warner to make the score 25-8. Canisius pushed its lead to as many as 22 points before heading into the locker room with a 35-17 halftime lead.

New Hampshire (2-7) came out on a 9-2 run to make the score 37-26. Canisius scored six points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half but then scored eight points in the span of 65 seconds ? getting two 3-pointers from Russell and a layup from Micayla Drysdale to make it 49-28.

The Griffs eventually extended the lead to as many as 29 points, holding the Wildcats without a field goal for a six-minute stretch and going up 62-33 on a jumper by Tasia Lee.

Williams led New Hampshire with 11 points and 12 rebounds while also committing 10 turnovers as Racheal Fowler had seven points.

Canisius wraps up its two-game road trip on Monday, when the Golden Griffins play at Rhode Island. Game time is set for 12 p.m.

Game Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 431 games on a 3-pointer by Russell in the first minute of the game... Canisius and New Hampshire met for the second time, with the other meeting between the teams coming on Jan. 6, 1994, a 74-61 win for the Wildcats in Durham... Cansius has forced 33 turnovers in the first half of the last two games... The 18-point halftime lead was the biggest road halftime lead for the Griffs since a 42-24 halftime advantage at Buffalo Nov. 21, 2003... Canisius has consecutive road wins for the first time since Feb. 11-23, 2007, when they won at Fairfield and Loyola... Canisius has now won five straight against teams from the America East Conference... Canisius has five wins in a six-game stretch for the sixth time in seven seasons... Canisius is now 37-4 when holding its opponent to under 35 percent from the field under Zeh... The +12 rebounding advantage for the Griffs is the biggest since they were +13 against Fairfield Jan. 10, 2008... The 20 offensive rebounds were the most for Canisius in a regulation game since they had 21 at Montana Dec. 28, 2006... The 39 offensive rebounds are the most in back-to-back games since Feb. 21-25, 2005, when the Griffs had 46... The 27-point victory served as the biggest road victory for Canisius since an 83-45 victory at Marist on Jan. 23, 2000... The 37 points are the fewest allowed by the Griffs in a road game since a 65-34 victory at Houghton during the 1977-78 season and rank as the fourth fewest allowed in program history in any road game.

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Players Mentioned

#23 Micayla Drysdale: G; 5' 9"; Sophomore

#3 Tasia Lee: G; 5' 8"; Junior

#1 Brittan? Russell: G; 5' 5"; Junior

#24 Marie Warner: F; 5' 11"; Senior

Players Mentioned

#23 Micayla Drysdale
: 5' 9"; Sophomore
: G

#3 Tasia Lee
: 5' 8"; Junior
: G

#1 Brittan? Russell
: 5' 5"; Junior
: G

#24 Marie Warner
: 5' 11"; Senior
: F