Women's College Basketball
Canisius College 64, Rider University 51
BUFFALO, N.Y.?The famous novel is a Tale of Two Cities. For the Rider Broncs, it was a tale of two halves. With the score tied at halftime, the Broncs were outscored by 13 in the second period, falling at Canisius in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game Friday night.
For the Broncs, sophomore Amanda Sepulveda (East Orange) scored 19 points, all in the first half with senior Janele Henderson (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) adding 18 points. “It is frustrating,” said head coach Lynn Milligan. “We put a solid 20 minutes together and for some reason we left it in the locker room at the half.”
With the game tied at 35 early in the second half, Canisius went on a 22-5 run, opening up a 17 point lead (57-40) with 10 minutes left in the game. The Golden Griffins held the Broncs to one field goal for a nine minute span of the second half.
“I don't know if Amanda wore herself out in the first half but she didn't have the same legs in the second half,” said Milligan. “I think she was trying to do too much and force the action in the middle.”
Trailing 19-16, Rider (7-20, 2-14 MAAC) went on an 8-0 run, five points by Sepulveda and led 24-19 with 5:34 left in the first half.
Canisius (11-16, 6-10 MAAC) responded with a 7-0 run retaking the lead by two 26-24 with 1:46 left in the opening period and the teams were tied 29-29 at halftime with Sepulveda scoring Rider's last eight points of the half.
The game featured nine lead changes, eight in the first half.
“We obviously left our game in the locker room at half time,” said Milligan. “We didn't have the same fire we had in the opening period and we need to correct that by Sunday. We seemed to be missing that sense of urgency and we didn't communicate very well on some of our switches and Canisius capitalized on every open three pointer.”
Canisius made eight three-pointers in the game, seven in the second half, and have made at least one three-pointer in an NCAA Division I record 417 straight games. Last season in Rider's annual visit to Buffalo, Canisius dropped in a Koessler Athletic Center record 12 three-point field goals.
Also for the Broncs, junior Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) had 11 rebounds.
Canisius broke a six game losing streak and Rider has lost three in a row.
The Golden Griffins have defeated the Broncs 16 straight times and hold a 20-5 series lead.
Rider stays in Western New York to face Niagara on Sunday at 2:00pm in a MAAC game.
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