Canisius Women’s Basketball Cancels Remainder of 2020-21 Season

The Canisius athletic department announced today (Feb. 4) that the Golden Griffin women's basketball program will not complete the remainder of the 2020-21 season due to health and safety concerns.

This decision was made with the overall health and safety of the women's basketball student-athletes in mind. Following conversations between the student-athletes, coaching staff and athletic department administration, the collective decision was made to end the competitive schedule for the 2020-21 season. The Griffs have not been able to play a game since Dec. 20 at Saint Peter's, and the team's current pause will not allow the Griffs to return to game action until at least Feb. 18. Non Covid-19 related injuries have also affected the team's roster, which has further impacted the program's ability to safely practice and compete.

"The women in our program discussed the challenges of this most recent pause and made the difficult choice to end their competitive season," Canisius Director of Athletics Bill Maher said. "The administration at the College supports their decision, as we have supported the choices made by all student-athletes at Canisius during this unprecedented time. Canisius will maintain its current schedule of competition in other sports and will continue to observe our rigorous health and safety protocols, which include regular testing for all student-athletes, based on guidance from Erie County, New York State and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference."

"Coming to this decision has been difficult process, but one that we all found to be in the best interest of our student-athletes," Canisius head women's basketball coach Scott Hemer said. "The women in our program did their best to remain diligent with the difficult Covid-19 protocols that we have in place, but quarantines and injuries were taking a toll on all of us. After listening to the team discuss how the constant uncertainty and endless unknowns have affected each individual member, we realized that this was creating a significant amount of stress and anxiety. I am proud of the resiliency that our players have demonstrated since they returned to campus in August. As is always the case, our staff is focused on the health and safety of our student-athletes. Although disappointing, we believe this decision the best for all parties involved."

Print Friendly Version