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Battle of the Bridge
The Niagara Purple Eagles will attempt to split the season series against crosstown rival the Canisius Golden Griffs on Tuesday evening in the Koessler Athletic Center at 5 p.m.

Niagara (13-14, 9-9 MAAC) is coming off a 44-33 victory over the Rider Broncs. The Purple Eagles have won four of their last five games and have gone 4-2 in the month of February. Overall, Niagara's offense is led by senior guard Meghan McGuinness and sophomore forward Victoria Rampado, both averaging 12.7 points per contest.

The Griffins (11-16, 8-9 MAAC) come into the matchup winning one of their last seven games, which was a 62-49 win over Monmouth on Feb. 22.  Junior forward Crystal Porter scored a team high 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Griffins. Senior guard Kayla Hoohuli leads the team in scoring for Canisius. Hoohuli scores 12.6 points per contest and averages 3.4 rebounds per game.

Niagara dropped a 61-56 decision to Canisius earlier this season. The teams split the season series in each of the last two seasons. NU won the first game in both, 62-49 on Jan. 27, 2013 and 69-60 on Jan. 29, 2014, but the Griffs won the second game and force the split, 51-36 on Mar. 1, 2013 and 62-53 on Feb. 7, 2014. With a win on Tuesday, Kendra Faustin's record against her former team, she served as an assistant under Terry Zeh for three seasons, would improve to 7-9. These two teams are separated by two games in the standings. Canisius currently is tied in ninth place while Niagara has split its last two games and is in a tie for fifth.

The Battle of the Bridge, the all-sports competition between cross-town rivals Niagara University and Canisius College, enters its ninth season in 2014-15. After Niagara claimed the inaugural competition, Canisius won the series the next two years, before Niagara claimed the Canal Cup at the end of the 2009-10 season. With the series tied 2-2, Canisius edged Niagara for the 2010-11 & 2011-12 title.

Points are awarded to the winner of regular-season contests, except for cross country, golf and swimming and diving, which are determined by MAAC Championship standings. The Canal Cup is awarded to the victor each year. The name of the series is in reference to the Grand Island Bridge, which each team crosses when traveling to the other's campus. The name of the trophy is in reference to the Erie Canal, which intersects Niagara County, where Niagara is located, and Erie County, where Canisius is located. Niagara is currently trailing this season's series, 15-5.
 
How To Tune In

• Purple Eagle fans can watch all of Tuesday's action live on ESPN3 with announcers Ed Cohen and Julianne Viani. A link to the broadcast can be found on PurpleEagles.com along with live stats.

 
On The Court
Canisius Golden Griffins (9-18, 7-11 MAAC)

• The Griffins are led by Terry Zeh who is in his 11th year as head coach at Canisius.
• Senior guard Kayla Hoohuli is Canisius' top scorer, averaging 12.6 points, and pulls down 3.4 rebounds per game
• Junior guard Tiahana Mills is the Griffs' next leading scorer for Canisius. Mills scores 11.0 points per contest and averages 3.9 rebounds per game.
• Junior forward Crystal Porter leads the team with 6.0 rebounds per game while also contributing 10.0 points per outing.

 
Against the Griffins (Canisius leads 51-34)
Last Meeting - January 21, 2015
NIAGARA UNIV. N.Y. – The Niagara University women's basketball team lost a 66-55 overtime decision to Canisius at the Gallagher Center on Wednesday evening.
 
Tipoff Tidbits

• Niagara's offense is led by senior guard Meghan McGuinness and sophomore forward Victoria Rampado. Both Purple Eagles average 12.7 points per game.
• McGuinness has scored at least 10 points in 21 of the last 25 games while Rampado also averages a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game.
• Tuesday will mark the 28th game of the season for the Purple Eagles and their 14th contest on the road. NU is 7-6 away from the Gallagher Center and 5-3 against conference opponents on the road.
• NU had a season-high +22 rebound margin in the win over Binghamton.
• Niagara's bench has outscored its opponents bench by a combined 350-303 in its 18 conference games.
• NU has an 11-3 record this season when leading at halftime.
• Victoria Rampado is averaging 13.9 ppg in conference match ups while Meghan McGuinness averages 12.9 ppg in MAAC contests.

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McGuinness Earns Capital One Academic All-District Honors

• On Feb. 5, senior Meghan McGuinness was named to the 2014-15 Capital One Academic All-District Women's Basketball First Team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

 
A Win On Tuesday Would...

• Boost Niagara over a .500 conference record (10-9).
• Split the season series with the Golden Griffins

  
Breaking The 500-Point Barrier

• Victoria Rampado scored her 500th career point against Manhattan on Jan. 31. She entered the game with 496 points and turned in a 10-point effort to finish the evening with 506 career points.
  • The sophomore now stands three points away from 600 with 597 career points.

 
National Leaders (as of Feb. 23)

• The Purple Eagles rank 80th in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (.95), led by senior point guard Kelly Van Leeuwen (3.62 assist-to-turnover) who ranks 3rd among all players in the country.
• Last season, Van Leeuwen finished 10th in the nation with a 2.91 assist/turnover ratio.
• Niagara also ranks in the top-50 in the nation in field-goal percentage defense (26th), rebound margin (37th), three-point field goal percentage (21st) and assists per game (44th).
• Meghan McGuinness ranks 12th in the NCAA with a 43.7 three-point field goal percentage.

 
Breaking Records

• On Dec. 30, McGuinness went 5-for-9 from beyond the arc marking her 223rd career 3-pointer which tied her second in the all-time record. Sheryl Klick, who played for Niagara from 1996-00, also has 223 career three pointers.
• Later, McGuinness made two three-pointers on Jan. 4 against Fairfield which moved her above Klick with the second most three-point field goals made (225). McGuinness now stands two 3-pointers away from the all-time top spot.
• Also on Dec. 30, Kelly Van Leeuwen had six assists for NU which marked her 283rd career assist and broke her into the top-10 for the all-time assist record at Niagara.
• Van Leeuwen then surpassed Kelly Chase, Joanne Lesnau and Kim Kuhn. On Jan. 23 against Iona, the senior guard had a season-high eight assists which placed her seventh in the all-time career assists record with a total of 328 assists. The senior guard now sits five assists away from the sixth all-time career assists spot.

 
Top Of The MAAC (as of Feb. 23)

• The Purple Eagles have two players in the top-10 in the MAAC in points per game.
• Victoria Rampado is ranked 6th with 13.9 ppg while Meghan McGuinness sits in the 9th spot with 12.9 ppg.
• Kelly Van Leeuwen ranks fourth in the conference with 4.8 assists per game.
• McGuinness is 3rd in the MAAC with a 44.3 three-point field goal percentage.
• The Purple Eagles are second in the MAAC in field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just 35.7 percent from the field.
• As a team, Niagara has the fourth best scoring margin within the conference (2.2) and the best rebounding margin (7.9). The Purple Eagles rank second in 3-point FG percentage (37.2 percent/ 97-for-261) and fifth in field goal percentage (40.7 percent/ 420-for-1,032).
• NU additionally ranks fourth in offensive rebounds (13.7 per game) and second in defensive rebounds (28.5 per game).