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

Early Run Gives Iona Enough Cushion To Defeat Women's Basketball

Iona scored the opening 11 points of the game and forced the Canisius College women's basketball team into nine turnovers during the first nine minutes en route to defeating the Golden Griffins 60-48 in the Koessler Athletic Center on Saturday. Canisius falls to 5-9 overall and 0-3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, losing its seventh straight contest.

Senior Brittané Russell led all players with 19 points, making five 3-pointers for the second consecutive game, to go along with seven rebounds and four steals in 36 minutes. Junior Micayla Drysdale had 15 points while senior Ellie Radke had seven points and seven rebounds.

“It's difficult to win any basketball game with you turn the ball over 27 times. We put ourselves in a big hole from the start and tried to dig out of it,” Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. “You have to give credit to Iona for hitting some big shots during our run. We'll keep working hard, take the good things from this game, build on them and try to improve on the negatives."

Five different Iona players scored during the 11-0 run to open the game, during which Canisius committed seven turnovers. The Gaels would push their lead to 16-2 before Canisius trimmed the Iona lead to 26-20, capped by a seven-point run. Radke hit a jumper, Russell nailed a 3-pointer and freshman Whitney Ellenor converted a layup to make it a six-point game.

Iona (6-8, 2-1 MAAC) got a 3-pointer from Diana Hubbard with 31 seconds left in the half to push its lead to 29-20 at the break.

Canisius came out with more intensity to start the second half, scoring eight of the opening 10 points to make it 31-28 on a 3-pointer from Radke. After the teams traded missed shots, Kristina Ford nailed a 3-pointer to push the Iona lead back to six. Russell responded with a 3-pointer to make it a three-point game, but the Gaels scored seven straight points, getting two layups from Anna McLean and another 3-pointer from Ford to push the lead to 41-31.

The Griffs cut the lead to 44-39 on a 3-pointer from Drysdale with 11:36 left, but wouldn't get any closer the rest of the game, which included a scoreless drought of nearly five minutes by both teams.

Ivkovic and Thazina Cook led the Gaels with 14 points each while McLean had 12 points and eight rebounds. Ford added nine points, going 3-for-3 from behind the arc.

Canisius wraps up its two-game homestand on Monday, against Manhattan on Kid's Day in the Koessler Athletic Center. Game time is set for 11 a.m.

Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 466 games on a 3-pointer by Drysdale in the first half… The seven-game losing streak is the longest for Canisius since a 10-game losing streak during the 1999-2000 season… Canisius starts MAAC play with an 0-3 record for the first time since the 2003-04 season… Drysdale's 15 points are a season high for the junior… Drysdale made three or more 3-pointers in a game for the 39th time in her career and eighth time this season… Russell has made 10 3-pointers in the last two games. The senior had 20 3-pointers total through the opening 12 games of the season… The 27 turnovers from Canisius matched a season high, which also came in the double overtime loss at Duquesne on Dec. 16.

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Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

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

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

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

Players Mentioned

#23 Micayla Drysdale

#12 Whitney Ellenor

#35 Ellie Radke

Players Mentioned

#23 Micayla Drysdale

#12 Whitney Ellenor

#35 Ellie Radke