Women's College Basketball
Canisius College 61, Rider University 58 (ot)
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE--Freshman Emily Fazzini (Wayne, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) scored a career-high 22 points but it was not enough as the Rider University women's basketball team lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game in overtime to Canisius College Friday night in Alumni Gymnasium.
"We gave it our all tonight," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "My heart breaks for them, we did everything we needed to do to win the game but didn't."
Trailing 58-56 with 3:13 left in overtime, Canisius ended the game on a 5-0 run, four points by Courtney VandeBovenkamp as the Golden Griffins secured their second win in a row. VandeBovenkamp finished with six points and 12 rebounds, six on the offensive glass.
Rider had a chance to tie the game but missed a three-pointer with seven seconds left in the overtime session.
Trailing 54-51, Canisius (12-12, 6-7 MAAC) tied the game on a three-pointer by Jen Morabito with 30.5 seconds left in regulation. Morabito finished with a team-high 14 points, one of three Canisius players in double-digits.
Rider missed a jumper with eight seconds left and turned the ball over after securing the offensive rebound. Canisius turned the ball over with two seconds left in regulation as Fazzini had a steal at midcourt to force the overtime session. The Golden Griffins committed 30 turnovers in the game with Fazzini accouting for five of Rider's season-high 15 steals.
Trailing 44-40, Rider (10-14, 2-11 MAAC) went on a 7-0 run, three points by Fazzini, putting Rider in the lead 47-44 with 5:39 left in regulation. In addition to her career night in points, Fazzini added five rebounds in 40 minutes of play.
"Emily got some good open looks and made some big shots," Milligan said. "She made some things happen for us tonight. She hustles and gave us opportunities to be successful in the game."
Trailing 31-23, the Golden Griffins used an 8-0 run to tie the game at 31-31 with 13:26 left in the second half. There were 11 ties and eight lead changes in the contest.
A layup by junior Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) gave Rider a 16-14 lead before the Canisius defense forced seven straight misses from the Broncs. Bopp finished with nine points and eight rebounds but was limited to 26 minutes due to early foul trouble.
Bopp moved into a tie for eighth all-time on Rider's career rebound list with Joanne Giordano who had 613 boards from 1982-85.
Rider opened play five for 28 from the field.
"We got good looks but didn't shoot the ball well," Milligan said. "We defended and battled for rebounds."
Canisius was only able to score three points during that 4:31 span and led 17-16 before Rider made its next four field goals, including a three-pointer by Fazzini as Rider re-took the lead, 25-19 heading into intermission.
Rider has lost nine in a row.
Canisius entered play fourth in the nation in assists per game and the Golden Griffins had 14 assists on their first 14 field goals and finished with 16 assists on 18 baskets. Rider had 12 assists in the game.
Both teams struggled from the field with Canisius out-shooting the Broncs 35 percent to 28 percent. The Golden Griffins out-rebounded Rider 54-42 with the Broncs holding a 21-16 advantage on the offensive glass.
Both teams entered play shooting over 70 percent from the free throw line with Rider held to 12 for 21 from the charity stripe (57 percent) on the evening.
"We put a lot of pride in how we have improved at the free throw line," Milligan added. "Our free throw shooting came back and bit us tonight."
Also for Rider, sophomore MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) had eight points, eight rebounds and three steals, playing 44 of 45 minutes. McKenzie is now tied for 20th on Rider's all-time rebounding list with Melissa Dilgard who pulled down 436 rebounds from 1998-2001.
Also for Canisius, Kayla Hoohuli had 12 points and seven rebounds with Ashley Durham adding 11 points and seven assists.
Ashley Wilkes had 13 rebounds, five on the offensive glass for the Golden Griffins.
Due to injuries and the Norovirus that stuck the Rider campus early in the week, the Broncs dressed only nine players for the game with eight seeing action.
"This team gives me everything they can every day," Milligan added. "They want to do that for each other and this program. We are going to continue to fight and try to figure things out."
The Golden Griffins swept the season series having defeated Rider 60-54 in Buffalo, New York on January 29.
Canisius leads the all-time series 26-7 and the Golden Griffins are 2-0 against Rider in overtime games.
Milligan is now 6-3 in overtime games in five seasons as the Bronc head coach. Rider was 3-0 in overtime in 2010-11, defeating Saint Peter's in single overtime, Iona in double o.t. and Niagara in triple overtime.
Rider is now 5-7 all-time in MAAC games that have gone into overtime.
The Broncs are 12-15 in overtime since 1981-82.
Rider hosts Manhattan in a MAAC game on Sunday at 1pm as part of National Girls and Women in Sports Day. The Jaspers lost at home to Niagara 61-55 on Friday night.
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