Women's College Basketball
Canisius College 70, Rider University 28
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
BUFFALO, N.Y.-The game on Friday night went triple overtime and needed 55 minutes of basketball play to determine the outcome. Today's game needed about 15 minutes to be over. The Canisius College Golden Griffin women's basketball team jumped on Rider for 41 first half points and then held the Broncs to 13 second half points as Rider lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game in Buffalo Sunday afternoon.
"This was not even close to the effort I thought I was going to get," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "This was unacceptable. We are not giving ourselves a pass and making excuses because we played a triple overtime game Friday night. We are better than that and this will be an important and difficult lesson for this team to learn."
The Broncs were led by sophomore Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Institute of Notre Dame) with six points and seven rebounds.
Canisius (9-18, 5-11 MAAC) jumped out to a 5-0 lead before junior Sarah Homan (Upper Darby, Pa./Delco Christian) got an offensive rebound and layup 1:20 into the game. The Golden Griffins then scored the next six points and led 11-2 at the first media timeout. Homan finished with five points and six rebounds.
Sophomore Shereen Lightbourne (Elmsford, N.Y./Alexander Hamilton) scored three of Rider's next five points, bringing the Broncs to within 14-7 nine minutes into the game. Lightbourne finished with five points and two steals in 27 minutes.
Leading 14-7, the Golden Griffins responded with a 15-2 run, opening up a 20-point lead with five minutes left in the opening period and Canisius led 41-15 at intermission.
"Canisius played a good basketball game and shot the heck out of the ball," said Milligan. "Especially early on from three-point range and they showed why they are the best three-point shooting team in the conference."
The Golden Griffins shot 47 percent from the field (26-55) and made eight three-pointers. Rider was held to 24 percent from the field (11 for 45) and went 0 for 9 from three-point range.
Leading 43-19, Canisius pulled away with a 9-0 run early in the second half.
"We need to show up every day, no matter the circumstances," Milligan said. "Canisius played good, hard man to man defense and denied our passes. Our cuts were a little sluggish and our screens were weak. We didn't come out with that scoring mentality that we needed. Reality being reality, we didn't expect to be perfect but we didn't expect the game to go the way it did."
Also for the Broncs, sophomore Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) finished with five points and four rebounds.
The Golden Griffins were led by Jen Lennox who finished with a career-high 16 points and added seven rebounds.
This was the 31st meeting between Rider and Canisius with the Golden Griffins winning 24 times. The Broncs defeated Canisius in Lawrenceville 68-58 on January 10 to split the season series.
The 28 points is Rider's third lowest point total all-time. The Broncs were held to 21 points at Penn State earlier this season and scored 25 points against Siena in the opening round of the MAAC playoffs last season.
Rider (4-23, 4-12 MAAC) travels to Jersey City to face Saint Peter's in a MAAC game Thursday night. The Peahens (3-12 MAAC) lost to Siena Saturday afternoon and host Marist Monday night. The Broncs defeated Saint Peter's 70-69 in overtime on January 15 in Lawrenceville.
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