Holding Maryland Eastern Shore to three field goals in the opening 14 minutes of the second half, the Canisius College women's basketball team used a 13-3 run to build a lead it would never relinquish en route to a 58-48 in the Koessler Athletic Center on Tuesday night. The Golden Griffins have won two of their last three and wrap up non-conference play with a 4-7 record.

Freshman Jen Morabito led Canisius with 18 points, going 4-for-7 from behind the arc. Freshman Jamie Ruttle had 12 points and six rebounds while sophomore Melissa Gardner and freshman Courtney VandeBovenkamp also had six rebounds apiece. Senior Micayla Drysdale added nine points and four assists as Canisius had 16 assists on 18 made baskets.

"Our offense got stagnant in the first half as I tried to have our team doing too much," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "We responded by making some great hustle plays in the second half, cutting down on the turnovers and locking down defensively to get the win."

Canisius had five turnovers in the first four minutes of the game as the Hawks took an early 4-2 lead. The Griffs then held UMES without a field goal for six and a half minutes, taking an 11-5 lead after four free throws from Gardner and a jumper from sophomore Allison Braun. The Hawks scored eight straight points, to go up 13-11 lead, but a 3-pointer from Morabito gave Canisius a 14-13 lead. Canisius got a baseline jumper from Braun to tie the game at 21-21 just before halftime.

UMES (2-7) took a 27-26 lead on a jumper from Caitlyn Dilard with just over 16 minutes left in the second half. Canisius then scored 13 of the next 16 points, holding UMES to one field goal in the next eight minutes.  The Griffs built a 39-30 lead, but the Hawks would make three of four shots, including back-to-back 3-pointers, to make it 44-41 with 3:47 left. Morabito would score five straight points to push the Canisius lead to 49-41. The Hawks would not get closer than six points the rest of the way as Canisius went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line in the final 1:33 to close out the game.

Chelsea Sanders led UMES with a game-high 19 points while Bria Jackson had 12 points.

Canisius starts conference play on Sunday, when the Golden Griffins host Fairfield. Game time in the Koessler Athletic Center is set for 2 p.m.

Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 496 games on a 3-pointer by Morabito in the first half... Canisius defeated UMES for the third straight meeting, winning all three matchups in the series... Canisius committed 13 turnovers in the opening 16 minutes, but had just four turnovers in the final 24 minutes... Freshman Jen Lennox had two blocks in a game for the fourth time this season... Drysdale had an assist-turnover ratio of 2.0 or better in a game for the 34^th time in her career... Morabito has scored 18 or more points in three straight games, the longest streak by a Cansius freshman since Amanda Cavo (Feb. 26 to March 4, 2006)... Ruttle had double-digit points for the third time this season... Zeh tied Sister Maria Pares for most wins (108) in program history... Canisius improved to 3-0 when tied or leading at the half this season... Canisius is also 4-2 when winning the rebounding battle... Canisius had a season-high 13 second-chance points and also had a season-high 16 assists... Canisius won for the first time this season when scoring fewer than 60 points... Canisius improved to 23-2 under Zeh when holding its opponent 50 or fewer points... Canisius athletics held a moment of silence prior to the start of the game to mourn the death of biology professor Dr. John Kalb, who died on Dec. 21.