Women?s Basketball Falls at Marist in MAAC Opener

Women's Basketball 1/16/2010 9:00:00 PM Canisius College Athletics

Women's Basketball Runs Past Rider

LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. – Using an 15-1 run to close out the first half, the Canisius College women's basketball team built a 20-point halftime lead and never looked back in a 78-48 win over Rider University in the Alumni Gymnasium on Saturday afternoon. Canisius wins its second straight game, improving to 7-9 overall and 2-3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Senior Tasia Lee led all players with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting to go along with five steals. Junior Micayla Drysdale had 13 points and four assists with zero turnovers while senior Ellie Radke had 12 points, all in the first half. Eleven Canisius players saw action with 10 finding their way into the scoring column.

“It was great to finally make some shots from the start, and that carried over to the defensive end,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “We got contributions from a number of players and saw a good effort from our entire team for the 40 minutes.”

Canisius started fast, making four of its first five shots to build a quick 10-3 lead as the Griffs never trailed in the game. Brianna Lucas hit a 3-pointer on the first possession, followed by layups from Brittané Russell and Drysdale and a 3-pointer from Radke. Rider (2-14, 0-5 MAAC) used a 10-4 run to get within one at 14-13 on a layup from Dior Brown at 12:06.

The Griffs then scored nine straight points, starting with five straight from Russell and went up 23-13 on a 3-pointer from Radke. The Broncs cut the Canisius lead in half on a two free throws from Carleigh Brown to make it 29-24 with 5:34 remaining.

The Griffs began their run with two free throws from Drysdale and then got 11 of the next 13 points from Lee, whose 3-pointer put Canisius up 47-27 going into the locker room.

Canisius opened the second half on a 15-5 run, pushing its lead to 30 points on a layup from Whitney Ellenor and eventually got it to as many as 35 points. The Broncs never cut the Canisius lead to less than 29 points the rest of the way.

Caitlin Bopp led with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Carleigh Brown had seven points and Steph Wisniewski had eight rebounds.

Canisius continues its three-game road stretch on Monday, when the Golden Griffins play at Loyola. Game time in Reitz Arena is set for 2 p.m.

Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 470 games on a 3-pointer by Lucas on the first possession of the game… Canisius had its biggest halftime lead since a 48-13 lead over Colgate on Nov. 12, 2007… The 47 first-half points were a season high and the most since Canisius had 49 against Detroit on Dec. 28, 2008… Canisius won for the 10th consecutive meeting in Lawrenceville and has won 18 of the last 19 overall games against Rider… Canisius snapped a four-game road losing streak, winning its first road game since Dec. 5, at Buffalo… Canisius ends a three-game conference road losing streak, winning for the first time since a Feb. 14, 2009, at Fairfield… The 30-point win was the biggest for the Griffs since a 78-33 win over Colgate on Nov. 12, 2007… Russell now has 16 assists in the last two games… Canisius had a season-low 11 turnovers… Drysdale had an assist-turnover ratio of 2.0 or better in a game for the 29th time in her career… Junior Tauralee Tenn grabbed a career-high five rebounds in a career-high 13 minutes

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Players Mentioned

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

#12 Whitney Ellenor: F; 6' 2"; Freshman

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

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

#35 Ellie Radke: F; 6' 0"; Senior

#11 Tauralee Tenn: G; 5' 9"; Junior

Players Mentioned

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

#12 Whitney Ellenor
: 6' 2"; Freshman
: F

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

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

#35 Ellie Radke
: 6' 0"; Senior
: F

#11 Tauralee Tenn
: 5' 9"; Junior
: G