LEWISTON, N.Y. - A layup from junior Ashley Durham with 0.9 seconds left gave the Canisius College women's basketball team a 58-57 win over rival Niagara University at the Gallagher Center on Saturday evening. The Golden Griffins improve to 11-12 overall and 5-7 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Sophomore Jamie Ruttle led Canisius with 17 points while sophomore Jen Morabito and junior Ashley Wilkes each had 11 points for the Griffs. Durham had nine points, seven assists and five rebounds while sophomore Courtney VandeBovenkamp pulled down a game-high nine rebounds - eight of them coming in the first half.

"This game kind of felt like two years ago at our place where we led for all of the game until Niagara hit a shot in the final seconds to get the win," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "We continue to put ourselves in tough situations, but tonight we were able to dig out of it and find a way to win in a great rivalry game."

Canisius trailed by one with 8.7 seconds left and had to go the length of the court. Durham took the inbounds pass and got a screen in the backcourt from Wilkes to break a Niagara double team. The junior point guard went coast-to-coast, driving down the right side of the lane. The 5-foot-5 guard made it to the basket and had to get her shot over Niagara forward Lauren Gatto. The ball went high off the glass and through the net to give Canisius the 58-57 lead - just its second lead of the second half. On the ensuing possession, Niagara had to go the length of the court, and Wilkes intercepted the inbounds pass just over halfcourt to preserve the one-point win.

"We were looking to get Ashley (Durham) free in the backcourt and she got a great screen from Wilkes," Zeh said. "The read for Ashley was to drive into the frontcourt and if they helped off one of our other players, to find them with the pass. Niagara stayed on the other options and Ashley went to the basket and made a really tough shot."

Canisius trailed 48-38 with 12:19 remaining after a 3-pointer late in the shot clock from Kayla Stroman. The Griffs then held the Purple Eagles to two field goals the rest of the game, outscoring Niagara 20-9 in the final 12 minutes. After Stroman's 3-pointer, Durham had a layup and two free throws to get Canisius within six, but a 3-pointer from Meghan McGuinness and a free throw from Shy Britton pushed Niagara's lead back to double digits.

Back-to-back layups from Wilkes started a 9-0 run that lasted nearly five minutes and was capped with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer from sophomore Jen Morabito with 4:43 left. Down 54-53, Durham drove to the basket and got the layup to put Canisius up 55-54 with 1:21 left - its first lead of the second half. Stroman came down and answered with a layup of her own, converting a three-point play with 50.2 seconds left to give the Purple Eagles a two-point lead. Ruttle would split two free throws with 39 seconds left to make it a one-point game. The Griffs forced a stop on the next possession, getting McGuinness to miss a 3-pointer and set up Durham's layup.

Niagara (8-16, 5-7 MAAC) made four of its first five 3-point field goal attempts in the game, but Canisius didn't let Niagara pull away in the early part of the contest. A 3-pointer from the top of the key from Ruttle tied the game at 16-16 midway through the first half. Niagara came back with six straight points to build a 22-16 lead. Canisius would answer with a 12-2 run to take a 28-24 lead with Ruttle scoring seven of the 12 during the run. Niagara answered with six straight and took a 35-32 lead into the locker room on Stroman's fast-break layup a second before the halftime buzzer.

Stroman was the only Purple Eagle to reach double figures, scoring 17 points. McGuinness went 3-for-6 from behind the arc as Niagara went 9-for-19 as a team on 3-pointers.

Canisius continues its four-game road trip at Rider University on Friday night, with tipoff at the Alumni Gymnasium in Lawrenceville, N.J. set for 7 p.m.

Notes: Durham's basket with 0.9 seconds left was the latest game-winning basket since Heather Fiore's buzzer beater against St. Bonaventure on Jan. 24, 1995. It was the 12^th time Canisius won with a basket in the final five seconds in the Division I era (1986-87)... Canisius won for the third time this season when trailing by double digits in the second half (Albany on Dec. 22 and Iona on Jan. 9)... With the win, Canisius earns two points in the Battle of the Bridge competition and trims Niagara's lead to 10.5 to 6.5... Canisius and Niagara split the season series for the first time since the 2007-08 season... Canisius won in the Gallagher Center for the third time in the last four seasons... Canisius snapped a seven-game MAAC road losing streak, picking up its first conference road win of the 2011-12 season... Canisius shot 12-for-18 (66.7 percent) from the free-throw line, its lowest percentage Dec. 10, at Ohio State, a span of 16 games... Canisius owned a 36-26 advantage on the glass, its best advantage in the rebounding category since going +18 at Kent State on Dec. 18.