NIAGARA UNIV, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles earned their first MAAC win with Friday afternoon's 78-46 victory over the Saint Peter's Peacocks at the Gallagher Center.
 
The game started with a 9-0 run by the Purple Eagles (3-9; 1-2 MAAC) and the team never looked back.  They would build two 16-point leads on their way to a 42-30 halftime advantage over the Peacocks (2-10; 1-2 MAAC).  Senior Chanel Johnson stole the show in the opening half; she went a perfect 6-for-6 from the field for 12 points and a team-leading four rebounds. 
 
"She's really comfortable with her role and she's certainly capable," head coach Kendra Faustin said of her only senior.  "I'm just really proud of her leadership.  She's the one who when things aren't going right or our team needs something that I can't say, she says it and she does the right things."
 
As a team, the half ended with NU in control of rebounds (16-14), assists (12-8), turnovers (5-10), and steals (6-0).
 
"Top to bottom I thought we kept our intensity the whole game, which is something we talked about," Faustin said.  "We don't care what the score is, we're going to do what we do and I thought we really did that."
 
In an effort to top their performance in the opening minutes of the first, the Purple Eagles opened the second half with a 10-0 run that featured five points from Victoria Rampado.  The freshman from Niagara Falls, Ont. narrowly missed finishing the game with a double-double as her final stat-line featured nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
 
"She did a great job tonight," Faustin said of the freshman.  "She's the leader of that squad and those young players…and Victoria is doing a great job doing the little things.  She certainly started that with rebounds"
 
With fewer than four minutes on the clock, NU was able to build its largest lead of the game, a 35-point advantage, and Sylvia Maxwell was able to score five of Niagara's final six points to give them the 78-46 win. 
 
Maxwell finished with 11 points and a 5-for-6 outing from the floor to become the third player for Niagara to finish with double-digit points.  She tied Meghan McGuinness, who went 3-for-6 from three-point range, and finished one behind Johnson's team-leading 12 points.  Rampado, Gabby Baldasare, and Val McQuade finished with nine points for the game.  Kelly Van Leeuwen continued to take care of the basketball as the junior added a team-high five assists while only committing one turnover.
 
"This was great," Faustin continued.  "Again, top to bottom I think that everybody who got in the game did their job and fulfilled their role."
 
The win is the program's first 30-point victory since November 10, 2007 when the team topped Colgate 78-39 in Faustin's first game as head coach.
 
The Purple Eagles get into the swing of conference play as they host the Iona Gaels on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. in the Gallagher Center.