AMHERST, N.Y. - The Canisius College women's basketball team couldn't overcome 54 Buffalo rebounds, including 22 offensive boards and 18 second-chance points, as the Golden Griffins lost 62-57 to the University at Buffalo in Alumni Arena on Wednesday night. The Golden Griffins drop to 3-4 on the season.

Sophomore Jamie Ruttle led Canisius with a career-high 20 points, including 4-for-6 shooting from behind the arc. Sophomore Jen Morabito had 10 points and four assists, one of three Canisius players with four assists on the night. Junior Allison Braun had nine points, six rebounds, four assists and four steals.

"We haven't been rebounding the ball well all season and tonight it really cost us. Rebounding is a desire and we aren't showing that," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "We made some mental errors with bad fouls, poor shot selection and missed defensive assignments that also hurt our team in a close game."

Canisius started slowly from the field as the Griffs only made one of their first 13 shots. The Griffs stayed in the game by getting to the line and converting on their free throws as Canisius went 6-for-6 in the opening eight minutes to stay within four at 13-9 with 11:23 left in the half. The Griffs went on a 12-4 run, making five of their next six shots, including five points from Ruttle and a 3-pointer from Braun, to go up 19-15. Canisius maintained that lead and was up 28-25 at the half.

Buffalo (3-6) scored the first five points of the second half to take a two-point lead, but the Griffs came back with five points from Ruttle to regain their three-point lead. Buffalo would then go on a 12-2 run, holding Canisius to one field goal during a five-minute stretch, as the Bulls went up 42-35 with 11 minutes remaining. A fadeaway jumper off the glass from junior Ashley Wilkes stopped the Buffalo run as the Griffs fought back into the game, making it 42-40 after junior Melissa Gardner split two free throws.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Brittany Hedderson pushed the Buffalo lead to 48-40 with 6:37 remaining. Ruttle then came back with seven straight points, including a deep 3-pointer, her fourth of the game, to get Canisius within three. The Griffs continued their run with two free throws from junior Ashley Durham and a pull-up, baseline jumper from Morabito, to tie the score at 51-51. After Hedderson made two free throws, Lennox was fouled. She made the first free throw, missed the second but Canisius got the offensive rebound. Lennox would eventually drain a jumper to give Canisius a 54-53 lead.

Hedderson would split two free throws to even the score again at 54-54. Canisius would come up empty on its next three trips down the court. After Nytor Langor split two free throws, Hedderson scored on both of Buffalo next's possessions to give the Bulls a 59-54 lead. Morabito made a deep 3-pointer to bring Canisius within two with 21.8 seconds remaining. Margeaux Gupilan and Hedderson made four free throws in the final seconds to put the game away.

Hedderson led all players with 31 points on 11-for-25 shooting. Four Buffalo players had double-digit rebounds in the game, with Christa Baccas and Teresa Semalulu leading the way with 11 rebounds apiece.

Canisius continues its three-game road stretch on Saturday, when the Golden Griffins play at No. 13/15 Ohio State. Game time at Value City Arena in Columbus, Ohio is set for noon.

Notes: Canisius and Buffalo met for the 35^th time, with Canisius now leading the series 27-8... Canisius has now dropped two straight to the Bulls after winning seven straight in the series... Canisius had a halftime lead for the fifth straight game... Braun attempted (and made) two free throws in the first half, her first trip to the free-throw line since her freshman season... Canisius had 16 assists compared to 14 turnovers, the second time this year (Nov. 14 vs. St. Bonaventure) the Griffs had more assists than turnovers... Ruttle's previous career high was 19 points against Fairfield on Jan. 2... Braun has shot 50 percent of better in each of the last four games, averaging 7.3 points in that stretch. The junior also matched her career high with four steals (Feb. 27 at Siena)... Morabito made multiple 3-pointers for the fifth time this season and has played at least 30 minutes in all seven games... Hedderson is the first opposing player to score 30 points against the Griffs since Eva Cunningham had 34 in the semifinals of the 2005 MAAC Championship... Canisius has allowed 22 offensive rebounds in each of the last two games.