NIAGARA UNIV., N.Y. – The Niagara women's basketball team was defeated by Canisius, 68-66, in a heartbreaking overtime loss on Thursday night.

"This was a hard-fought battle," said head coach Jada Pierce. "This was my first Canisius rivalry game and it was everything I thought it would be and more. I'm really proud of my team today because we've had the low numbers all year long and we haven't had an overtime game in a while and I know that maybe a little bit of that came into play, but I really feel good about the effort that we got tonight."

Tiffany Corselli led the Purple Eagles in scoring with a career-high 24 points. Kaylee Stroemple recorded a double-double with a team-high 11 rebounds and 15 points. Taylor McKay added 13 points and Sam Lapszynski narrowly missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Jamie Sherburne led the team in assists with five.

Canisius (9-11, 4-7 MAAC) went on a 9-0 run to open the first quarter, but Niagara bounced back quickly, going on a 12-0 run that included two 3-pointers from Corselli. Corselli went a perfect 5-5 from the 3-point line in the first quarter and at the end of the first, the Purple Eagles were ahead of the Golden Griffins, 27-13.

Taylor McKay opened scoring in the second quarter, extending the Purple Eagles' (6-14, 4-7 MAAC) lead to 16 points, 29-13. However, the Griffs made a comeback and going into halftime the score was tied at 31 all. In the third quarter, the teams continued to score back and forth and at the end of the quarter, Niagara had a narrow 50-48 lead over Canisius.

The fourth quarter proved to be exciting for both Purple Eagle and Golden Griffin fans as the Battle of the Bridge became a true battle. A bucket from Corselli with a little less than five minutes to go in regulation tied the score up once again, 52-52. With under a minute remaining, Canisius was ahead of Niagara, 59-57 but, with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter, McKay hit a jump shot to tie up the score, 59-59, and send the game into overtime.

The Purple Eagles' offense got a quick start in the overtime period, pulling ahead of Canisius 62-59 with a little over two minutes to go. The Golden Griffins answered, however, and with eight seconds left in overtime the score was tied 66-66. With two seconds remaining in overtime, Crystal Porter scored the game-winning points for the Golden Griffins.

The Purple Eagles play next on Saturday, Jan. 23 against Iona at 3:00 p.m. in the Gallagher Center.

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