Box Score
NIAGARA UNIV, N.Y. – The Niagara Purple Eagles earned their first MAAC win with Friday afternoon's 73-40 victory over the Saint Peter's Peacocks at the Gallagher Center.
 
The game started with a 9-0 run by the Purple Eagles (3-3; 1-0 MAAC) and the team never looked back.  The first half consisted of back-and-forth buckets from each team while NU took a 42-30 halftime advantage over the Peacocks (0-5; 0-1 MAAC).  Junior guard Sylvia Maxwell stole the show in the opening half; she went 5-for-6 from the field for 12 points and a team-leading four rebounds. 
 
As a team, the half ended with NU in control of assists (6-4), turnovers (11-13), and steals (7-5).
 
The Purple Eagles opened the second half with a 22-2 run that featured nine points from Victoria Rampado.  The sophomore from Niagara Falls, Ont. finished the game with nine points, three rebounds, two steals and one block.
 
"I thought we did a great job in the second half making some adjustments," head coach Kendra Faustin said.  "I'm so proud of our performance. The genuine care the team has for each other is real and it doesn't happen with every team; this is a special group."
 
With fewer than two minutes on the clock, NU was able to build its largest lead of the game, a 37-point advantage, after a Kelyn Freedman layup. Sam Lapszynski hit a jumper in the final seconds of the game as Niagara took home the 73-40 win.  

Twelve Purple Eagles scored as Maxwell led the team with 16 points and a 7-for-8 outing from the floor along with a team-high six rebounds.  Meghan McGuinness went 3-for-5 from three-point range and finished with 11 points and two assists. Kelly Van Leeuwen continued to take care of the basketball as the senior added a team-high four assists while only committing two turnovers.
 
NU finished the game going 29-for-59 from the field (49.2 percent) while Saint Peter's went just 14-for-56 from the floor (25.0 percent).  They topped the Peacocks in every statistical category as Niagara pulled down 43 boards to SPU's 36, made 18 assists to Saint Peter's nine and had 10 steals to the visitor's six.  The Purple Eagles also had a 26-11 advantage of points off turnovers and 26-8 second chance points.

Niagara's last 30-point victory was also against Saint Peter's on January 3, 2014 when the team topped the Peacocks 78-46.
 
The Purple Eagles get into the swing of conference play as they host the Manhattan Jaspers on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. in the Gallagher Center.