Warner?s Late Baskets Give Women?s Basketball Win over Saint Louis

Women's Basketball 1/23/2009 5:00:00 AM Canisius College Athletics

Women's Basketball Defeats Rider

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. ? Starting out by making five 3-pointers in the opening four minutes, the Canisius College women's basketball team picked up its seventh consecutive road win with a 71-59 victory at Rider University at Alumni Gymnasium on Friday afternoon. The Golden Griffins improve to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Senior Marie Warner led all players with 24 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, the third consecutive double-double for Warner. Sophomore Micayla Drysdale had 15 points, which included a 4-for-6 shooting effort on 3-pointers, to go along with seven rebounds. Junior Brittan? Russell had 14 points, four assists and three steals in the win.

“We adjusted to take away the dribble penetration, but then struggled with allowing second-chance points in both halves,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “Our team made some big shots today. We didn't get a lot of production in the paint, but we were able to get the ball inside and that gave us some inside-outside looks.”

The Griffs opened up with those five 3-pointers in the first four minutes, building a 17-11 lead on a 3-pointer from Warner at 16:07. Rider tied the game at 19-19 on a layup from Shaunice Parker at 11:23. Canisius closed the half on a 12-4 run to go up 40-31 at halftime.

The Griffs continued to limit the Rider offense early in the second half, scoring the opening four points of the half to go up 44-31 and holding Rider to two field goals during an eight-minute stretch covering both halves.

Canisius kept its lead above five points for the majority of the half with Rider getting as close as four when Cintella Spotwood made a layup with 7:58 remaining to make the score 57-53. The Griffs scored 14 of the final 20 points of the game to close out the road win. A 3-pointer by Drysdale with 3:33 left extended the lead to 67-56 as Canisius was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final seven minutes to put the game away.

Amanda Sepulveda led Rider (6-13, 3-5 MAAC) with 21 points while Parker had 11 points and 12 rebounds. Rider shot 38.6 percent from the field as Canisius held the Broncs to 32.1 percent in the second half.

Canisius concludes its weekend road trip on Sunday, when the Golden Griffins take on Loyola in Baltimore. Game time is set for 2 p.m.

Game Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 440 games on a 3-pointer by Drysdale on the Griffs' first offensive possession of the game... Canisius has won the last 17 meetings with Rider and owns a 21-5 all-time lead in the series... Canisius made nine 3-pointers in the game and has made 19 in the last two games... Canisius committed nine turnovers, with two coming in the second half. Canisius has committed five second-half turnovers in the last two games combined... The Griffs have committed 15 or fewer turnovers in 10 of the last 11 games... Warner's three consecutive double-doubles are the most by a Griff since J?nel Stevens had five straight from Jan. 18-Feb. 1, 2004... Canisius has held its last five opponents to under 60 points, the longest streak in the last 25 seasons... The 14-5 start for the Griffs matches start from the 1994-95 season, which is the best since 1990... The seven consecutive road wins are the longest since the program went to the Division I level... Canisius has won its last four MAAC road games... Warner topped 20 points for the seventh time this season... Drysdale made at least two 3-pointers for the 11th time this season... Drysdale has 15 rebounds in the past two games.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#23 Micayla Drysdale

#1 Brittan? Russell

#24 Marie Warner

Players Mentioned

#23 Micayla Drysdale

#1 Brittan? Russell

#24 Marie Warner