Women's Basketball Travels to St. Bonaventure Wednesday

Women's Basketball 12/22/2008 5:00:00 AM Canisius College Athletics

Women's Basketball Rallies to Shock Rhode Island in Overtime

KINGSTON, R.I. ? Down eight points with less than 75 seconds remaining, the Canisius College women's basketball team rallied to force overtime and then hung on for a 68-67 victory over Rhode Island in the Thomas M. Ryan Center on Monday. The Golden Griffins have now won four straight and six of their last seven games.

Senior Marie Warner led the Griffs (7-4) with a career-high 25 points in a career-high 44 minutes. Junior Brittan? Russell had 17 points and seven assists in 42 minutes. Sophomore Micayla Drysdale had 11 points and a team-high five rebounds. Canisius forced Rhode Island into 22 turnovers while only committing 15 turnovers.

“That was one of those games where we were trailing the entire game, but I just felt that we could win in the end,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “This win is a huge growing point for our team, who never gave up, just kept digging and found a way to send themselves into Christmas with a great road win.”

The Griffs trailed 56-48 with 1:17 remaining after Janae Miller made two free throws for Rhode Island. Russell came down and hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to five. Miller split two free throws to push the lead back to six. Russell would draw a three-shot foul from the top of the key and make two free throws to make the score 57-53.

Using the full-court press, the Griffs forced a turnover and Warner converted a three-point play with 41.5 seconds remaining to make it 57-56. Miler then missed two free throws but the rebound went off Warner and out of bounds. Russell forced a steal from Megan Shoniker and scored an uncontested layup with 26 seconds remaining to give Canisius its first lead of the game at 58-57.

Licina drew a foul with 13.9 seconds left, but split the free throws to tie the game at 58-58. The Griffs had a chance to win it in regulation, but a jumper from Cavo rimmed out as time expired.

In overtime, Rhode Island was up 63-62 with two minutes left when Russell found Amanda Cavo in the corner and the senior nailed a 3-pointer to give the Griffs a 65-63 lead with 1:48 left.

Canisius would get two defensive stops and Cavo made two free throws to push the lead to four points with 24.5 seconds left. A jumper by Lindsay Harris got Rhode Island within two with 12.9 second remaining.

Russell was fouled and made the first free throw but missed the second, making the score 68-65 with 11.5 seconds remaining. Rhode Island came down with the rebound and after crossing halfcourt, Brianna Lucas forced the Rams toward Russell who tipped the ball toward midcourt. With the clock running down, Harris passed the ball to Sierra Cooper, who made a layup as time expired, giving the Griffs the one-point win.

In the first half, Rhode Island jumped out to the early lead by scoring the opening five points and going up by as many as 12 on a jumper by Licina that made the score 29-17 with 7:56 left in the half. Canisius would hold the Rams to four points the rest of the half, but could only cut the lead to as few as seven points as both teams went scoreless for a stretch of more than five and a half minutes.

Down 33-26 at the half, Canisius tied the game at 37-37 on a 3-pointer by Stephanie MacDonald but Rhode Island pushed the lead to 45-37 after scoring eight consecutive points. The Rhode Island lead stayed between four and nine points until the Canisius comeback.

Cooper led Rhode Island (5-6) with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Licina added 11 points for the Rams.

Canisius returns home for two games, starting Sunday, against Detroit in the Koessler Athletic Center. Game time in the Koessler Athletic Center is set for 2 p.m.

Game Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 432 games on a 3-pointer by Drysdale early in the first half... The eight-point deficit is the largest in program history overcome by the Griffs with 90 seconds remaining in the game... Canisius won for the third time under Zeh when trailing by five or more with 90 seconds left... Canisius won for the fifth time under Zeh when trailing by seven points or more at halftime, with three of those victories coming in the last 12 months... Canisius is 23-15 under Zeh in games decided by five points or fewer... The win is the 75th in the career of Zeh... Cavo played in her 100th career game... Canisius is 3-1 in its last four games decided by one points... Canisius and Rhode Island met for the third time, with the two previous meetings being Canisius wins in the Koessler Athletic Center... Canisius won for the first time in three games this season when trailing at the half... Canisius won when trailing at the half for the first time since Feb. 24, 2008, a 59-56 overtime win over Loyola, which was also the last overtime win for the Griffs... Canisius has won three straight road games for the first time since Nov. 24-Dec. 22, 2006... Canisius won a road game at an Atlantic 10 school for the first time since Dec. 17, 2005, a 77-67 victory at St. Bonaventure... Senior JJ Williams played a career-high 32 minutes... Russell has six or more assists in four of the last seven games... The 25 points by Warner are the most by a Griff since Cavo had 28 at Missouri State Dec. 21.

Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

#12 Amanda Cavo: G; 5' 9"; Senior

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

#13 Brianna Lucas: G; 5' 8"; Junior

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

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

#31 JJ Williams: C; 6' 1"; Redshirt Senior

Players Mentioned

#12 Amanda Cavo
: 5' 9"; Senior
: G

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

#13 Brianna Lucas
: 5' 8"; Junior
: G

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

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

#31 JJ Williams
: 6' 1"; Redshirt Senior
: C