Box Score Box Score

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Canisius women's basketball team led wire-to-wire as it defeated the Big Red, 62-45, this evening at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, N.Y. The Griffins got out to a fast start and used an early 10-0 run to build a significant lead that Cornell could not overcome.

Cornell (3-7) was led by Taylor Flynn, who came in off the bench to score 10 points and hand out three assists. The forward tandem of Clare Fitzpatrick and Maka Anyanwu scored nine and eight points, respectively, with Fitzpatrick coming up with four of the Big Red's 15 steals and Anyanwu grabbing seven rebounds. Allyson DiMagno also finished with a team-high seven rebounds.

Canisius (6-5) had a trio of players finish in double-figures, with Jamie Ruttle leading the way with 20 points, while Ashley Durham and Kayla Hoohuli finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Courtney VandeBovenkamp pulled down a game-high eight rebounds and Jen Morabito handed out five assists.

The Griffs shot the ball extremely well, finishing the game at 41 percent from the floor (20-49) and 50 percent from 3-point range (8-16), while holding Cornell to just 33 percent overall (16-49) and a mere 29 percent from beyond the arc (4-14).  

The home team also held the advantage in rebounds (34-32) and posted one fewer turnover than Cornell (20-19).

Canisius jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with back-to-back 3-pointers from a pair of unlikely sources as VandeBovenkamp hit her first trey of the year, followed by a long distance shot from Ruttle. The Big Red answered back when Flynn checked into the game and hit a trey on the Big Red's next offensive possession and Shelby Lyman knotted the game at 6-6 with a 3-pointer at the 15:23 mark.

The Griffs regained the lead with a 3-pointer by Durham and a layup from Ruttle, the first bucket of the game that wasn't from beyond the arc, on back-to-back possessions, but Cornell tied the game again with a trey from Flynn and a tremendous fastbreak bucket from Stephanie Long, who drove the length of the court, spun through the lane and hit a four-foot floater to make it 11-11.

A pair of made free throws from Ruttle were answered by a pair of made free throws by Kristina Danielak for the third tie of the game, 13-13, at the 12:22 mark, but the home team responded with a 10-0 run to go up, 23-13, with 10:32 to play in the opening half.

Marissa Rakestraw put back an offensive board to end the Canisius run, but a traditional three-point play by Ruttle retuned the double-digit lead to the Griffs.

Canisius stretched its lead to 32-16 but the Big Red responded with a 6-3 run, which included impressive back-to-back layups in the lane by Anyanwu, to make it a 35-22 game with 1:08 to play in the half.

Once again, the Griffs went inside and found Ruttle, who scored the final bucket of the half and sent her team into the intermission with the 37-22 lead.

The Big Red was plagued with turnovers early in the second half but used some tough defense to keep the game close despite the early disparity in possessions.

Cornell trailed 48-31 at the 8:24 mark, with eight of its first nine points in the second half coming from Fitzpatrick, but the Griffs responded with a 7-2 run to go up, 55-33, with just under five minutes to play. Moments later, Hoohuli gave the home team its largest advantage of the contest (23 points) with a 3-pointer, but seven unanswered points by the Big Red cut the lead to 58-42 with 1:49 to play.

An offensive putback by Ruttle ended the Cornell threat and the teams traded buckets down the stretch as Canisius took the 62-45 victory.

The Big Red is back in action in the New Year when it travels to Fordham to take on the Rams on Monday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.