RIVERDALE, N.Y. - The Canisius College women's basketball team overcame an early 13-point deficit but couldn't complete the comeback as the Golden Griffins lost 54-51 to Manhattan College at the Draddy Gymnasium on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Griffins drop to 8-13 overall and 5-5 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Junior Jamie Ruttle led Canisius with 13 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Kayla Hoohuli had nine points on 3-of-4 shooting on 3-pointers. Senior Ashley Durham and junior Jen Morabito each scored eight points for the Griffs.

"We continue to put ourselves in a hole, and it's very difficult to dig out in those situations," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "If the possessions at the end of the game go our way, we feel a lot better, but I think we did a better job than in the past against Manhattan's zone."

Manhattan (6-15, 3-7 MAAC) came out shooting the ball well, scoring 15 points in the opening six minutes and taking a 15-2 lead on a 3-pointer from Monica Roeder. Canisius then held the Jaspers to one field goal during the next six minutes as the Griffs went on an 11-2 run to get within four. The Griffs got as close as two points after a 3-pointer from the wing from Hoohuli made the score 23-21. Roeder answered with a 3-pointer of her own to put Manhattan up by five.

The Griffs would go into the locker room down three as freshman Tiahana Mills inbounded the ball off the Manhattan defender underneath the Griffs basket, grabbed the ball and scored a layup in the final seconds of the half to put Canisius down 28-25. After that opening six-minute stretch, the Griffs outscored Manhattan 23-13 during the final 14 minutes of the half.

The Griffs took their first lead of the game after back-to-back layups from Ruttle but Manhattan answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to quickly push its lead to 38-33. Later in the half, the Griffs used a 9-2 run to again take the lead after a layup from Durham. Manhattan would take a 50-46 lead on the fifth 3-pointer of the game from Roeder, the final field goal of the game for the Jaspers with 5:49 left. Ruttle drained two free throws and then a putback evened the score at 50-50 with 4:03 left.

The junior split two free throws with 1:47 left to put Canisius up by one, and Allison Skrec swished two free throws on the next Manhattan possession to put the Jaspers up 52-51. A jumper from the corner from Ruttle and a putback by Durham came up empty for the Griffs on their next possession. Sophomore Brooke Angelos would jump a pass in the paint and went coast-to-cast, getting fouled with 50.9 seconds remaining. Angelos missed both free throws to keep Manhattan up by one, and the Griffs would force a Manhattan miss on the other end.

Canisius wasn't able to get a shot off on the ensuing possession as Durham turned the ball over when driving into the paint. Toni-Ann Lawrence made both free throws with 4.2 seconds left to put the Jaspers up 54-51. Canisius would get the ball over halfcourt but couldn't get a shot off before time expired.

Roeder led all players with 19 points while Lawrence had 12 points and Ashley Stec had 10 points. Skrec recorded five assists and four steals.

Canisius returns home for two games in the Koessler Athletic Center next week, starting with Thursday's game against Saint Peter's. Tipoff in the KAC is set for 7 p.m.

Notes: Manhattan defeated Canisius for the sixth consecutive meeting... The Griffs shot under 35 percent for the third consecutive game and are 10-for-53 on 3-pointers in that stretch... Canisius outscored Manhattan 19-2 in bench points... The Griffs outscored Manhattan 20-16 in the paint, outscoring its opponent in the category for the third consecutive game... Freshman Crystal Porter had three blocks in 18 minutes off the bench.