Buffalo, NY – Sophomore guard Stella Johnson (Denville, NJ/Morris Catholic) registered her fifth double-double of the season thanks to a 25-point, 13-rebound performance to lead the Rider University women's basketball team past Canisius, 62-54, on Sunday afternoon in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) action at the Koessler Athletic Center.

The Broncs (12-15, 9-7 MAAC) snapped a two-game road conference losing streak with the victory, while the Golden Griffins (9-18, 7-9 MAAC) have now dropped three of their last four league games.

Johnson stuffed the stat sheet once again for Rider as she also added five assists, four blocks and one steal in the win. She scored 20 or more points for the second game in a row for the first time in her career.

Rider jumped out to an early lead thanks to holding Canisius to just seven percent (1-of-13) shooting in the first quarter. Senior Kamila Hoskova (Brno, Czech Republic/Sportovni Gymnazium Ludvika Danka) erupted for nine points in the opening frame and sophomore Aubre Johnson (Post Falls, ID/) beat the buzzer with a three-pointer off an offensive rebound to give the Broncs a 16-5 advantage after 10 minutes.

Rider stretched their lead to 15 midway through the second quarter at 24-9 following a following a trey from Stella Johnson as the shot clock expired. Canisius would answer and close the half on a 10-2 run capped by a buzzer beating jumper from Sara Hinriksdottir to cut the Rider lead to seven at 26-19 heading into halftime.

The Broncs came out strong in the second half as Stella scored the first five points of the quarter. The Rider lead swelled to 20 at 41-21 following the second trey of the frame by Lexi Posset (Pittsburgh, PA/Beaver Area). Once again, the Griffs would respond this time with a 7-0 spurt to cut the Bronc advantage to 13 at 41-28 with just under four minutes left. The lead would stay at 13 with Rider taking a 44-31 edge into the fourth.

Canisius opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run over the first three minutes before Stella knocked down a three-pointer from the wing. The Griffs would respond with five straight points after Johnson's triple to cut the deficit to just four at 47-43 with 4:58 left in the game.

Rider would settle down as the Griffs would not get within four points the rest of the way. As has been the case all season, the Broncs hit their free throws down the stretch. Rider converted 13-of-14 from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter to earn the regular-season sweep of Canisius.

NOTES & QUOTES
"This is a great conference and this time of year scouting is really important. We put a lot of pride in our preparation. Defense for us is key. When we play good defense we win. This was a big test for us today and we passed. I thought we executed very well offensively over the last six minutes." – Rider Head Coach Lynn Milligan

"We are a work in progress. We are a young team and still make some mistakes. We are going to continue to work to put ourselves in a good situation heading into March." – Milligan

"She's one of the most prolific and best all-around players in this league. She wants to get her teammates involved. She does a great job of finding her teammates on the court. She's one of the most unselfish players you'll see even though she's so talented with the ball in her hand." – Milligan on sophomore guard Stella Johnson

- Rider has now won four straight games against the Griffs after sweeping the regular-season series each of the last two seasons.
- The Broncs are 11-0 this season when holding their opponents to under 60 points. Rider has surrendered less than 60 points in all nine of their MAAC wins.
- Rider is 12-4 and an impressive 9-2 in conference play when leading at halftime.
- The Broncs shot 33 percent from the field (17-of-52).
- Rider hit 8-of-21 from three-point range. It was the fourth time in the last six games that the Broncs have hit seven or more treys in a game, while also hitting over 38 percent.
- Rider was 20-of-23 from the free-throw line. It marked the fifth time this year that the team has hit 20 or more free throws and the second time in conference play.

BRONCS BY THE NUMBERS
- Stella and Hoskova combined to score 28 of the team's first 31 points.
- Hoskova finished with 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting. She knocked down all three of her free-throw attempts to go along with five rebounds.
- Lexi Posset was the other Bronc in double figures with 13 points thanks to hitting 7-of-8 from the charity stripe.
- Stella's 13 rebounds and four blocks both tied her career-bests which she set earlier this year. It was her 10th game with five or more assists in 2017-18.
- Aubre Johnson's three-pointer was the first of her career.  

UP NEXT
Rider returns to action on Friday, February 23 with a home conference clash with defending MAAC Champion Quinnipiac that is slated to begin at 7:00 pm. The Broncs are looking to avenge a 13-point setback to the Bobcats earlier this winter. Friday's tilt will feature live stats as well as audio and video feeds. For the links visit the women's basketball schedule page on GoBroncs.com.