January 6, 2007 - Canisius 61 Rider 47
January 6, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women’s College Basketball
Canisius College 61, Rider University 47
LAWRENCEVILLE—The Broncs lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to Canisius Saturday afternoon. “We did not get off to a good start,” said head coach Tori Harrison. “The 17 offensive rebounds jumps right off the stat sheet and we have to rebound the ball better to be successful in the MAAC.”
“We can’t come out that passive to open games,” said junior Janele Henderson. “Canisius was able to do what they wanted and found open players and used that to jump out to an early lead.”
Canisius (9-5, 1-2 MAAC) jumped out to a 13-4 lead, five points by senior forward Abby Radunske, and never trailed in the contest. Holding a 19-10 lead, Canisius out-scored Rider 12-2 to take a 31-12 lead, and led 34-19 at the half. The Golden Griffins had nine assists on their first nine field goals in the first half.
“We are young,” said Harrison. “But eventually instinct and just playing the game has to take over. Rebounding does involve some technique, but it also comes down to desire, who wants the loose balls more and you have to play with that attitude that any free balls are going to be ours and we aren’t doing that. We need to discover the attitude and do it quickly.”
Trailing 37-21, Rider (1-13, 0-3 MAAC) went on an 8-2 run, four points by freshman Stephanie Wisniewski (Levittown, PA/Villa Joseph Marie), to cut the lead to 39-29. Wisniewski finished with six points and six rebounds.
“We’re going to have to start changing what we are going on the court,” Harrison added. We had 24 turnovers and we’re not going to win games when we don’t take care of the ball. We need to execute better and take the scouting report into live game action.”
Rider sophomore Danielle Costantino (Norristown , PA/Archbishop Carroll) made a three-point field goal to cut the Canisius lead to 47-37 with 7:25 remaining, but that was as close as the Broncs could get. Costantino compiled seven points off the bench.
Holding a 47-37 lead, Canisius went on a 9-0 run, six points by senior Megan Lyte, to take a 55-37 lead with 5:00 left to play. Lyte led Canisius with 16 points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Henderson (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Loughlin) led Rider with 11 points and six rebounds, making four of five foul shots. Henderson scored seven of her points in the final 4:30 of the game.
“Canisius came out with a press early and caused a lot of turnovers,” said Henderson. “We adjusted in the second half and were able to come back by being more aggressive. We were able to disrupt what they were trying to do but when you are down early, it’s hard to spend the whole game fighting back.”
Rider held the Golden Griffins to five points in the first nine minutes of the second half, cutting the Canisius lead to 10 two times and caused 28 Golden Griffin turnovers in the game. Sophomore Shaunice Parker (Waldorf, Md./West Lake) had a career-high five steals as Rider posted a season-high 13 steals in the game.
Canisius freshman guard Brittany Russell made three three-pointers and finished with 13 points.
Rider hosts Marist Monday before making the annual trek to Buffalo, facing Niagara and Canisius next weekend.
“It will be fresh in our minds how to play Canisius,” Harrison said. “Hopefully playing them again in such a short time will help us make the adjustments to stop them and help us remember the things that we did that worked against them on defense.”
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