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Canisius University Athletics

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Shaunae Brown goes for a running layup at Buffalo
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54
Canisius Canis 3-18,1-11 MAAC
63
Winner Fairfield Fairf 15-6,12-1 MAAC
Canisius Canis
3-18,1-11 MAAC
54
Final
63
Fairfield Fairf
15-6,12-1 MAAC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 OT 1 F
Canisius Canis 16 6 11 19 2 54
Fairfield Fairf 9 11 18 14 11 63

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women’s Basketball Falls to Fairfield in Overtime

An 11-0 run in overtime propelled Fairfield to a 63-54 overtime victory over Canisius in MAAC women's basketball action Saturday at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, Conn.
 
Callie Cavanaugh and Sam Lewis scored 14 points for Fairfield (15-6, 12-1 MAAC), while Sydney Lowery and Andrea Hernangómez chipped in 10 points apiece. Rachel Hakes added eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Stags.
 
Junior Shaunae Brown scored a game-high 15 points for Canisius (3-18, 1-11 MAAC). Freshman Athina Lexa had eight points, while graduate student Ella Väätänen and freshmen Lydia Gattozzi and Rhay Porter all added six points each.
 
GAME RECAP
Canisius jumped out to a 6-2 lead in the first three minutes behind 3-pointers from Väätänen and Brown. Fairfield used a 5-0 spurt to go ahead, 7-6, before the lead swapped hands on the following four scoring plays.
 
Väätänen's second trey of the quarter kick-started an 8-0 run for the Griffs, putting Canisius ahead 16-9 at the end of the opening period.
 
Defensively, the Griffs forced seven consecutive Fairfield missed field goals — five of which were layups — over a 5:01 span of the first and second quarters.
 
Fairfield held Canisius to just six points in the second quarter, keeping the Griffs scoreless for 4:40 in the middle portion of the period. Lowery hit a 3-pointer with under a minute left to cut Canisius' lead to 22-20, heading into the halftime break.
 
The Stags used a 9-0 run out of the locker room in the first 1:59 to turn their two-point deficit to a seven-point lead, 29-20. Hernangómez scored six of Fairfield's nine points in the stretch.
 
Canisius countered the nine unanswered points with an 11-4 run over 6:32 of the quarter, tying the contest at 33-all before Fairfield closed the final 1:17 of the quarter on a 5-0 run.
 
Sophomore Dani Haskell opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer before Fairfield opened its largest regulation lead, scoring eight of the following 10 points. Canisius responded to the Stags' scoring output with a 12-4 run, drawing the game even, 50-50, with 1:54 left. Brown and senior Erika Joseph hit 3-pointers to tie the game.
 
A Euro-step layup by Joseph with 44 seconds remaining put Canisius ahead by one, 52-51, before Cavanaugh went 1-for-2 from the free-throw line with 22 seconds left to force an additional period.
 
Brown opened the scoring in overtime with a mid-range jumper before the Stags used their 11-0 run en route to the victory.
 
Head Coach Sahar Nusseibeh's Postgame Comments
"Incredibly proud of the efforts our team gave today. We have a lot of fighters on this team. We did so many good things today. To go from the score of our first game versus Fairfield just three weeks ago to today, we've grown in so many ways. We looking forward to continuing to get better these next few weeks and are excited to get back to work."
 
Game Notes
• Saturday marked the 68th all-time meeting between the two Jesuit institutions. Canisius is now 25-43 all-time against Fairfield.
• The nine-point victory for the Stags marks the 14th time in the last 17 contests that single digits have decided the result between the Griffs and Stags.
• With Saturday's game needing overtime, it was the seventh time Canisius has gone to overtime against Fairfield. That total is now tied with Niagara for the most overtime games against a MAAC opponent.
• The 20 points allowed by Canisius in the first half were the fewest given up in a single half by the Griffs this season, besting the previous low of 21 in the first half against Colgate on Nov. 20.
• Väätänen hauled in a career-high nine rebounds, matching the team high with Porter. The nine rebounds for Väätänen bested her previous single-game high of seven with LIU against Wagner on Feb. 9, 2019.
• With Väätänen and Porter each recording nine rebounds, it is the first time Canisius has had multiple players with nine-plus boards in a game since A.J. Timbers (11) and Danielle Sanderlin (9) did so on March 10, 2020, against Siena in the opening round of the MAAC Basketball Championships.
 
Up Next
Canisius concludes its three-game, five-day road trip on Monday with a matinee against Quinnipiac. Tipoff between the Golden Griffins and Bobcats from the People's United Center in Hamden, Conn., is set for 1 p.m., with game action broadcast on ESPN+.
 
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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