ROCHESTER, Mich. – The Niagara Purple Eagles dropped a midweek matchup against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies 71-57 on Wednesday night. 
 
Team defense was the highlight of the early going for the Purple Eagles (1-4), holding the Golden Grizzlies (1-5) to a 2-for-11 (18.2 percent) clip through the first four-plus minutes.  The Oakland offense was able to get going eventually and built a lead that got as large as 15 points, 26-11, with seven minutes left.
 
"Every game is going to be a learning process for us," head coach Kendra Faustin said.  "It's a grind; we are young and we're trying to find our identity with our new offense.  Every time you talk about a young team you talk about being inconsistent and that's where we are right now."
 
Despite good ball movement, the NU offense battled an unforgiving rim before finding a groove down the stretch and had the deficit cut to just eight points, 32-24, with under three minutes left.  Meghan McGuinness finished the half with a game-high 10 points as the Purple Eagles went into the break trailing 38-26.
 
Gabby Baldasare finished the period one away from the team lead in both assists, with two, and rebounds, with four.  Kelly Van Leeuwen and Val McQuade led the team in assists and rebounds, respectively.
 
"I was disappointed in our defensive effort in the first half and we gave up 10 defensive rebounds," Faustin said.  "I thought we did a better job with that in the second half defensively."
 
The Purple Eagles shot 44.8 percent (12-for-31) from the floor in the second half but the Grizzlies were able to answer back and maintain their lead on the way to a 71-57 win.
 
McGuinness went 3-for-6 from three-point range and finished with a team-high 15 points.  Freshman Victoria Rampado added 12 after going 5-for-10 from the field.  Chanel Johnson finished with a team-best seven rebounds while Baldasare set a career-record for the second consecutive game with three blocks.  Van Leeuwen's seven assists tied a career record.
 
"It was one of those games where we just couldn't get a rhythm and keep anything positive going," said Faustin.  "We're so good from the free-throw line and we were not good from the free-throw line tonight.  It was one of those nights."
 
The Purple Eagles are back on the court on Wednesday, Dec. 4 when they head to Kent, Ohio for a contest against the Kent State Golden Flashes at 5:00 p.m.