NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Purple Eagles women’s basketball team earned its first home victory of the season with a 70-59 win over Oakland on Sunday afternoon in the Gallagher Center.

The Purple Eagles (2-3) trailed by a small margin early after the Grizzlies (3-2) hit the first basket of the contest and the team’s traded points back-and-forth.  The score was tied four times in the first six minutes of the half before Niagara took the lead with under seven minutes off the clock.  That would be the only lead change in the entire game.

"Since we've started games so poorly, the first media [time out] of each half is really important," head coach Kendra Faustin said.  "We talked about some specific things that we wanted to do in those first four minutes of each half and I thought we did those things.”

Niagara took a four-point lead into the half thanks to an offensive effort where the team shot 51.9 percent (14-for-27) from the floor.  Lauren Gatto, who led the team with 17 points on the afternoon, hit four of her six opportunities and both Chanel Johnson and Jess Flamm were a perfect 2-for-2.

Coming out of the break, Niagara extended its lead to 16 points, 55-39, after to an 18-7 run in which six different Purple Eagles put points on the board.  Val McQuade scored five points during the run and finished the game with 12 points, tying a career-high, and a team-high seven rebounds. 

“Val is an excellent passer,” Faustin said.  “She played guard in high school so she can really pass it and shoot it.  She can stretch the defense.  You can’t stay in on Lauren [Gatto] because Val can knock down that shot and when you come out Val can make the pass.” 

From there Niagara kept Oakland at bay, keeping them under a double-digit deficit for most of the stretch run.  The Grizzlies were able to cut the lead to nine points but both times Niagara responded to bring the lead back to 11 points. 

While Gatto finished the game 8-for-13 from the floor and hit her only chance from the free-throw line to lead the team on offense, it was a team effort for Niagara.  Eight players put points on the board and Niagara’s bench outscored Oakland’s 28-8.  The Purple Eagles also shared the rebounding burden with 10 players pulling down at least one board. 

The Purple Eagles have a week off before their next game when they host Kent State on Saturday, December 1 at 2 p.m.  Tickets are still available and more information can be found by clicking here.