RIVERDALE, N.Y. ­- Manhattan College scored the first 17 points of the game, and the Canisius College women's basketball team could never get closer than five as the Golden Griffins lost 54-42 at the Draddy Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Griffins fall to 7-16 overall and 3-9 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Freshman Jamie Ruttle led Canisius with 11 points and nine rebounds while sophomore Ashley Durham had eight points, four rebounds and three assists in 24 minutes off the bench. Senior Micayla Drysdale had seven points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals while junior Steph MacDonald had seven points and seven rebounds.

"We obviously didn't play well at the start of the game, and we can't continue to come out playing tentative. We had some open looks but just played too tight," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "Just battling to get back into games isn't good enough. We didn't have the intensity, especially on the defensive end, for 40 minutes that you need."

Manhattan (17-6, 9-3 MAAC) built a 17-0 lead as Canisius missed its first 12 shots and had eight turnovers in the opening 10 minutes. The Griffs climbed back into the game and closed the half on a 10-3 run as Canisius held Manhattan without a field goal for the final five and a half minutes. A layup from Ruttle cut the Manhattan lead to 24-18, but Maggie Blair was fouled on a 3-point shot and made all three free throws to give the Lady Jaspers a 27-18 halftime lead.

After a jumper from Drysdale made it 29-22, the Lady Jaspers would push their lead to 15 points at 37-22 after a three-point play from Toni-Ann Lawrence. Canisius came back with 10 straight points, getting five points from MacDonald, a 3-pointer from freshman Jen Morabito and layup from Ruttle to make it 37-32 with 8:08 remaining.

The Griffs were down 40-35 after a 3-pointer from Durham with 6:24 left, but missed their next six shots and had two turnovers in the ensuing three minutes. Alyssa Herrington and Lindsey Loutsenhizer made 3-pointers to extend the lead to 50-35.

Herrington led all players with 16 points, including 4-for-6 from behind the arc. Loutsenhizer had 11 points and nine rebounds while Nadia Peters had nine points, eight boards and six steals

Canisius continues its four-game road stretch on Saturday, when the Golden Griffins travel to rival Niagara University. Game time at the Gallagher Center in the first meeting of the teams this season is set for 2 p.m.

Notes: Canisius extended its NCAA record of consecutive games with a 3-pointer to 508 games on a 3-pointer by Drysdale in the first half... Canisius has lost three of its last four in the Draddy Gymnasium... Manhattan sweeps the season series from Canisius for the first time since the 2000-01 season... Canisius and Manhattan played for the second time in 10 days. The third time in the last four seasons the teams played twice in the regular season in a span of 10 days or less... MacDonald had six or more rebounds for the sixth time in the last seven games... Morabito made a 3-pointer for the 17^th time in 19 games... Senior Tauralee Tenn played 16 minutes off the bench, the most for the senior since playing 20 at Bowling Green on Dec. 21... Drysdale's four steals matched a career-high (Dec. 2, 2009, against Albany)... Ruttle scored in double figures for the 10^th time this season.