Women's College Basketball
Canisius College 60, Rider University 49
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game

BUFFALO, N.Y.---Tied 37-37 at the end of three quarters, the Rider University women's basketball team was out-scored 23-12 in the final 10 minutes as Canisius College defeated the Broncs in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game on ESPN 3 Friday night.

"This was a tough road game," said head coach Lynn Milligan.  "We played very solid basketball for three quarters and I'm disappointed we couldn't close it out.  Credit Canisius with its solid defense."

The Golden Griffins opened the final period with four straight points and leading 43-41, used an 8-0 run to push the Bronc deficit to 10 points with 3:41 remaining.

Rider (5-19, 2-13 MAAC) was led by 18 points from junior Robin Perkins (Willingboro/Trenton Catholic).

Rider trailed 12-7 at the end of the first quarter on 3-15 (20 percent) shooting.

Senior Manon Pellet (Marseille, France) returned to the court after missing the last six games with a hip injury.  Coming off the bench in 15 minutes of play, Pellet had five points, four rebounds and her two assists moved her into 10th place on the all-time assist list at Rider.

"It was good to be able to get Manon some minutes," Milligan added.  "She played well in her first game back."

Freshman Lexi Posset (Pittsburgh, Pa./Beaver Area) tied the game at 14 with 5:33 left in the first half on a jumper off of a Canisius turnover and resulting fast-break.  Making her third straight start, Posset finished with those two points on 1-8 shooting.

Rider took its second lead of the game at 18-16 off of a layup by sophomore Kamila Hoskova (Czech Republic) with 4:01 remaining in the first half.

Hoskova, who made the winning shot with 0.1 seconds remaining in Rider's last game at Saint Peter's, finished with four points, three rebounds and two assists.

Canisius led 20-19 at the break.

The Golden Griffins opened the third quarter with a 7-1 run in first 4:44 of the second half to extend their lead to 27-20. 

Rider countered, out-scoring the Golden Griffins 11-2, eight points by Perkins in a 1:20 stretch, to regain the lead 31-29 with 3:02 left in quarter number three.

Freshman Johnnah Johnson (Blackwood/The Hun School) hit a buzzer-beating layup to cap the third quarter and tie the score at 37.  Johnson finished with four points and four rebounds in 10 minutes off the bench.

Rider was out-shot 38 percent (19-50) to 32 percent (19-60).  Canisius made 18-23 free throws with Rider converting six of 15 free throw attempts.

Canisius defeated Rider 73-64 on December 6, 2015 to sweep the season series after out-scoring Rider 12-0 in the final four minutes.

The Golden Griffins lead the all-time series 32-9.

Rider stays in Western New York to face Niagara in a MAAC game on Sunday at 2pm.

-RU-