Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
Athina Lexa dribbles up-court against Niagara
www.tomwolf.smugmug.com
61
Marist Marist 6-16,4-10 MAAC
65
Winner Canisius Canis 4-20,2-13 MAAC
Marist Marist
6-16,4-10 MAAC
61
Final
65
Canisius Canis
4-20,2-13 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Marist Marist 16 14 14 17 61
Canisius Canis 11 12 16 26 65

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Lexa’s 26 Points Lifts Women’s Basketball Past Marist

Freshman Athina Lexa scored a game-high 26 points to lift Canisius to a 65-61 victory over Marist in the Golden Griffins' annual Play4Kay Game at the Koessler Athletic Center on Saturday afternoon.

Lexa is the first Canisius freshman to score at least 25 points since Amanda Cavo recorded 28 points at Niagara on Feb. 26, 2006. It is the first instance of a freshman scoring 25-plus points at home since a 27-point performance by Heather Fiore against Temple on Jan. 24, 1994.

The 26-point performance by Lexa is tied for the most points by a first-year player in the MAAC this season, joining Quinnipiac's Jackie Grisdale (Jan. 29 at Niagara).

Sophomore Dani Haskell added 13 points and senior Erika Joseph chipped in 12 points for the Golden Griffins (4-20, 2-13 MAAC).

Anabel Ellison scored a team-high 19 points, while Kendall Krick and Trinasia Kennedy scored 13 points apiece for Marist (6-16, 4-10 MAAC).

GAME RECAP
Marist opened the first three minutes of the game on a 13-5 run before Lexa scored Canisius' next six points as a part of a 6-2 spurt that trimmed the Red Foxes' lead to 15-11.

A free throw by Samantha Bailey with 14 seconds left in the quarter was the beginning of a 9-0 Marist stretch that put the Red Foxes ahead, 24-11, with 7:34 left in the opening half.

Canisius held Marist scoreless in the final 3:08 of the first half, narrowing its deficit to 30-23 at halftime.

While holding the Red Foxes scoreless, Lexa and Haskell combined to score 12 unanswered points spanning the second and third quarters, to tie the game at 30-all with 7:24 left in the third quarter. Marist responded by scoring seven points in 65 seconds to retake the lead.

A 3-pointer with 3:03 left in the quarter by graduate student Ella Väätänen cut the Red Foxes' lead to 40-37 before the teams swapped points on the following five scoring plays. Kennedy put Marist ahead, 47-42, with a shot from beyond the arc with 7:50 remaining in the contest. 

Lexa netted five straight points for Canisius, bringing the Griffs level. Her 3-pointer tied the game with 6:08 left, resulting in the first of five ties in the period.

Marist retook the lead, 50-47, behind a layup and free throw from Krick before a Haskell layup and a trey by Lexa gave Canisius the lead again, 52-50. The Lexa 3-pointer was also the first of five lead changes in the final five minutes.

A layup by Joseph with 1:41 left put Canisius ahead by three, 58-55, before Ellison netted four straight Marist points — two off free throws before a layup to give the Red Foxes the lead once again, 59-58. 

The final 33 seconds featured scoring solely from the free-throw line, starting with a pair of makes by Haskell to put Canisius ahead 60-59. After being fouled before an inbound pass, Ellison went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line, positioning Marist ahead 61-60.

Canisius iced the game by going 5-for-6 from the charity stripe in the final 12 seconds. Freshman Rhay Porter and Joseph made their pair of free-throw attempts, while Lexa added an insurance marker with three seconds left. 

Head Coach Sahar Nusseibeh's Postgame Comments
"I'm extremely proud of our team and their growth in comparison from the last game. You address some things from the past five, six, seven games, we've been struggling with the same thing. We didn't start the game too hot in terms of those exact things that we were talking about. We challenged them as a coaching staff early on in the game. Our entire staff is extremely proud of how we chose to respond. It shows a lot of maturity. It shows a lot of growth. It also shows a lot of grit. Our team collectively was gritty down the stretch and they just had a find-a-way mentality. Every single person contributed to this win.

"One thing we're really good at is when we get in our flow, and we're just playing basketball, I think we're really good. Hats off to Marist; they're doing a tremendous job on the defensive end. We told the girls at halftime they have our calls. Everybody in college basketball scouts, so they have our initial action calls. They know how to stop that initial action. Now let's not be shell-shocked when they start to stop the first action and let's continue to play basketball. It was just a conversation of reaffirming our players that they're good basketball players and that's what we do really well.

"Athina is a wonderful player. She's a wonderful girl and sometimes, even off the court, is perfectly content taking a backseat. I think that's why she was a little bit less of a factor early on in the season. She's good kind of checking it out, making the extra pass and not taking over games, but her talent level has the ability to take over games. Whether she's at the '4' spot or a guard spot, she's just a tremendous player. She's very skilled and I think it's just a matter of continuing to infuse her with that confidence and she's starting to feel it now, which is really fun to see. It's fun to see her blossom in her own and her teammates feed her that confidence too. It's not just from our staff. We've got a wonderful team that infuses each other with confidence and belief. Once she feels that from her peers, especially, she feels like she can do anything. Regardless of where we put her on the floor, she does have an advantage because she's a skilled player who can read a defense."

Game Notes
• Saturday was the 59th all-time meeting between Canisius and Marist. Canisius snapped its 12-game losing streak to the Red Foxes, claiming its first victory over Marist since Feb. 14, 2016. Marist still holds onto the advantage in the series, 44-15.
• Canisius trailed 24-11 in the second quarter, marking the program's first victory after trailing by 13-plus points since coming back from being down 15 in the third quarter against St. Bonaventure on Nov. 17, 2019.
• Väätänen recorded a career-high five blocks in Saturday's victory, besting a four-block performance against Quinnipiac on Jan. 27.
• Porter had two blocks in the contest, her ninth multi-block performance of the season. Her nine games with two-plus blocks are the most by a Griff since Crystal Porter had 10 such performances during the 2014-15 season.
• Porter now has 33 blocks on the season, tied with Jen Lennox (2012-13) for the 11th-most in a single season.

Up Next
Canisius opens its four-game road swing on Thursday, traveling to Riverdale, N.Y., to square off against Manhattan. Tipoff from Draddy Gymnasium is scheduled for 7 p.m.

For complete coverage of Canisius women's basketball, please follow the Griffs on social media at @GriffsWBB on Instagram and Twitter.

 
Print Friendly Version