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Dani Haskell attempts a three-pointer at Buffalo
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87
Winner Niagara Niag 5-6,2-1 MAAC
86
Canisius Canis 2-10,0-3 MAAC
Winner
Niagara Niag
5-6,2-1 MAAC
87
Final
86
Canisius Canis
2-10,0-3 MAAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT 1 F
Niagara Niag 26 7 19 21 14 87
Canisius Canis 16 18 23 16 13 86

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women’s Basketball Drops Overtime Heartbreaker to Niagara

Despite four Canisius players posting career-high point totals, Niagara avenged a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime and come away with an 87-86 victory over the Golden Griffins in MAAC women's basketball action at the Koessler Athletic Center Sunday afternoon.
 
Sophomore guard Dani Haskell scored a career-high 27 points with seven rebounds, four assists and a career-best four steals. Haskell's rebounding and assist totals matched previous single-game highs.
 
Freshmen Lydia Gattozzi (17 points), Cheyenne Stubbs (14 points) and Rhay Porter (7 points) also netted new single-game point totals.
 
Gattozzi's seven rebounds, Stubbs' seven assists and Porter's six blocks were also new single-game bests for the first-year players. Freshman guard Athina Lexa also added a season-high three rebounds for Canisius (2-10, 0-3 MAAC).
 
Kyra Grimshaw scored a career-high 23 points for Niagara (5-6, 2-1 MAAC), while Ally Haar (15 points), Maddy Yelle (14 points) and Olivia Mason (10 points) all chipped in with double-figure point totals.
 
GAME RECAP
The Purple Eagles shot a blistering 71.4 percent from the field (10-for-14) in the first quarter while forcing Canisius to turn the ball over eight times in the opening 10 minutes of play. Niagara closed out the final 3:03 of the quarter on a 10-3 run, opening a 10-point lead over the Griffs, 26-16.
 
After a made jumper by Gattozzi that opened the scoring in the second quarter, Niagara's Brooklyn Jones made what proved to be the Purple Eagles' lone field goal of the quarter with 8:09 left.
 
Following Jones' basket, Canisius closed out the remainder of the half on a 16-5 run, highlighted by scoring 13 unanswered points over 5:27, giving the Blue and Gold a 31-28 lead with 2:25 left. The Griffs defense forced 15 straight Niagara missed field goal attempts, holding the Purple Eagles to make one of their 19 field goal attempts in the quarter.
 
Niagara tied the score twice in the third quarter, 44-44 and 52-52, before the Griffs closed out the final 47 seconds of the period on a 5-0 run behind a pair of free throws from Haskell and a 3-pointer by Lexa.
 
Canisius opened the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run in the first 2:27, extending the lead to 12 points, 66-54. Niagara, however, responded with a 12-3 run in three-plus minutes to cut its deficit to just three, 69-66. The Griffs increased their lead back to six, 72-66, with 3:54 remaining after a free throw by Haskell and a jumper by Porter.
 
The Purple Eagles ended the final 3:17 of regulation on a 7-1 run, which sent the game to overtime, tied 73-73.
 
In what proved to be a fast-paced overtime, Niagara opened the additional period on a 7-2 run in the first 1:18 behind back-to-back baskets by Grimshaw and a layup by Yelle. The two teams then traded seven consecutive layups. Sydney Faulcon made the last layup in the span, converting an and-one with 10 seconds left to give Niagara an 87-81 lead.
 
The Griffs, however, did not go down without a fight as Haskell drilled a 3-pointer coming out of a timeout with five seconds left to cut the deficit to three.
 
Following the Haskell 3-pointer, Niagara called a timeout and Canisius fouled Yelle with four seconds left. Yelle missed both free throw attempts and Canisius called its final timeout of overtime after the rebound by Haskell.
 
Haskell received in the inbound pass and attempted a 3-pointer that did not fall, but Gattozzi's putback counted as the ball was released just before the buzzer sounded.
 
Head Coach Sahar Nusseibeh's Postgame Comments
"It was a really tough game. I am proud that we had seven available players today and they competed for 45 minutes. They gave everything they had in terms of their effort. Our focus started to wane in the second half and we can't allow fatigue to affect our focus. The biggest thing for us is we are never going to allow circumstance affect our mentality and our perspective. I was proud of the attack mentality that our available players and even our bench had today. I thought we were locked into the game plan and the prep that we had.
 
"Lyd [Lydia Gattozzi] and Chey [Cheyenne Stubbs] had their first career starts and I thought they did a heck of a job. It's a next woman up mentality and they were ready to meet the call. The same thing with Rhaymi [Rhay Porter] off the bench. Her stats were tremendous as well. All three of them did a tremendous job coming in, being confident in their game, and doing their role. Our freshman are owning their roles and they're getting more comfortable with every game we play, which is exciting to see."
 
Game Notes
• Sunday marked the 99th all-time meeting between the two Western New York rivals. With the loss, Canisius is now 60-39 all-time against the Purple Eagles.
• The loss snapped an eight-game home win streak over Niagara, marking the first home loss to their "Battle of the Bridge" rival since Jan. 27, 2013.
• Canisius played in its first overtime game since Feb. 22, 2019, a home loss to Siena, snapping a streak of 50 consecutive games that did not need an extra period.
• Haskell's 27 points is the most by a Canisius player since Danielle Sanderlin's 30-point performance at Saint Peter's on Feb. 15, 2020. The 27-point performance is the most by a Griffs guard since D'Jhai Patterson-Ricks had 27 against St. Bonaventure on Nov. 17, 2019.
• Graduate student Ella Väätänen scored 10 points in the overtime loss, marking the second time in her career that she has eclipsed the 10-point mark. The other instance occurred on Nov. 23, 2018 against UC Irvine when she was playing for LIU.
• Väätänen also extended her block streak to seven games, which is now the longest streak since Ashley Wilkes also had a stretch of seven straight contests with a block during the 2012-13 season.
• Freshman Athina Lexa established a new season-high with her three rebounds.
• Porter is only the second freshman this season to record at least 10 rebounds and five blocks in a game. Skyler Gill of North Alabama is the other when she recorded 11 rebounds and five blocks against Jacksonville State on Jan. 8.
• Porter has 18 blocks on the season, the third-most by a first-year player in Canisius' Division I era. She surpassed Nicole Arlain (14 in 1992-93), Maggie Guidry (16 in 1996-97) and Kristen Scheuermann (17 in 1987-88).
 
Up Next
Canisius continues its five-game homestand on Thursday when the Griffs host Fairfield at the Koessler Athletic Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. Game action can be viewed on ESPN3.
 
For complete coverage of Canisius women's basketball, please follow the Griffs on social media at @GriffsWBB on Instagram and Twitter.
 
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