NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – Niagara and Canisius games are always emotional and intense; today’s edition of the Battle of the Bridge series was no different. Jennifer McNamee (Oxford, Ohio) scored a career-high 28 points, but the Golden Griffins pulled away late for an 85-72 win on Sunday afternoon at the Gallagher Center.
“We will build on this performance,” head coach Kendra Faustin said. “In MAAC play, you have to play all 40 minutes. I thought we had a good first 30 minutes, but we have to work on the other ten. We got fatigued (in the second half) and stopped communicating on defense and it led to a couple of easy looks for them.”
Despite the loss, Niagara (1-13, 0-3 MAAC) had one of its best shooting days in recent history. The Purple Eagles shot 56.1 percent (24-for-41) from the field, were 11-for-15 (73.3 percent) from the 3-point line and shot 78.9 percent from the free-throw line.
Canisius (10-4, 2-1 MAAC) entered the game leading the MAAC with 111 3-pointers made and started today’s contest making four 3’s on its way to a 16-5 lead. McNamee drained a 3-pointer with 15:05 in the first to spur Niagara’s 17-2 run.
Kristina Walton (Cleveland, Ohio) made a free throw to convert a three-point play to give the Purple Eagles their largest lead of the game, 25-20, at 9:24 in the first half. The lead would change side for the next seven minutes until Canisius closed the half on a 4-0 run to take a 36-33 lead at the half.
The Purple Eagles regained the lead from two Liz Flooks (White Plains, N.Y.) free throws 51 seconds into the half as the game continued to see-saw. As the game went on, Canisius started to use its inside presence to overpower Niagara’s front court.
Forwards Marie Warner and Eliie Radke combined for 31 points and 11 boards in the game and were instrumental to the Golden Griffins’ 69-61 lead with 5 minutes remaining.
The Purple Eagles also became shorthanded; they lost their two main ball handlers when freshman Ali Morris (Parkersburg, W.Va.) fouled out and senior Erika Harris (Gahanna, Ohio) left the game due to injury in the final minutes.
Niagara continued to fight back and cut the lead to 76-68 from a Flooks’ 3-pointer with 1:39 remaining. Canisius’ Brittane Russell would make key free throws late to seal the game for the visitors.
McNamee, who set her previous career-high of 26 points against Oakland this season, was 9-for-10 from the field, 6-for-7 from 3-pointers and 4-for-4 at the line. Her only missed was a desperation 3-pointer with 32 seconds left in the game.
McNamee 28 points and Flooks 24 points were the first time that two players had scored 20 plus points in the same game since Feb. 18, 2007. Flooks also extended her consecutive free throw made streak to 24.
The Purple Eagles are on the road for their next MAAC contest. Niagara will face defending MAAC champions Marist on Friday at 7:30 p.m.
