The Canisius women's basketball offense was stifled by Cornell's defense on Thursday, as the squad was held under 30-percent shooting from the field, as the Big Red defeated the Griffs 60-43 in Ithaca, N.Y. With the loss the Blue and Gold head into the Christmas Break with a 2-9 mark, while Cornell improves to 7-3.

Cornell used a 16-6 run spanning through the first five minutes of the third quarter, to stake claim to a 44-26 lead to take control of the contest. The Blue and Gold entered the frame down by just eight points to start the second half.

Offensively the Griffs struggled to get anything going, as the Blue and Gold offensive leaders, Margret Halfdanardottir and Maria Welch paced the team with six points apiece.

Sara Hinriksdottir, who came off a game where she recorded a 29-point performance at Morehead State, failed to record double-digits for the 10th straight game, as she notched five. She did however lead the team with four rebounds.

Megan Leduc, who tallied 17 points for the Big Red, led Cornell offensively. Kerri Moran also hit double-figures as she notched 12 points.

Cornell bested Canisius in several other key categories, outrebounding Canisius 37-30 and turning it over just nine times, compared to the Griffs' 12.

Neither team was very accurate from the field in the first half, however Cornell rebounded in the second half, shooting 47.6 from the field in the final two quarters, as opposed to just 31 percent in the first two frames.

GAME NOTES
• With the loss, the Blue and Gold are now 7-2 all-time against Cornell.
• The Big Red snapped a four-game win streak by the Griffs, with the last game coming in 2011.
• Against Morehead State Sara Hinriksdottir had notched her ninth straight game of 10-or-more points but failed to do so on Thursday, snapping her streak.

UP NEXT
Canisius now takes a brief hiatus for the Christmas Holiday, before resuming play on Dec. 30. The Griffs will be on the road for conference action on Dec. 30, playing Iona in New Rochelle, N.Y., before concluding the weekend with Manhattan on Jan. 2. Game times are set for 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively.