Duquesne Pulls Away From Women's Basketball

Women's Basketball 3/5/2010 5:01:00 AM Canisius College Athletics

Women's Basketball Takes On No. 1 Seed Marist

2010 Citizens Bank MAAC Championship
Game No. 31 No. 9 Canisius College (12-18 MAAC) vs. No. 1 Marist College (23-7 MAAC)
Date: Friday, March 5, 2010
Time: 2 p.m.
Site: Times Union Center (8,065) — Albany, N.Y.

Video Webcast: MAACSports.com
Radio Broadcast: Golden Griffin Broadcast Network
Talent: Mike Scott (p-x-p)
Matt Reitnour (color)

QUICK HITTERS

Canisius looks to become the first No. 9 seed in MAAC Championship history to advance to the semifinals when the Golden Griffins face No. 1 seed Marist on Friday.
Canisius and Marist are meeting in the postseason for the third consecutive season and fifth time in the last seven years. Canisius is 1-3 in the previous four meetings.
With Thursday's 65-57 first-round win over Saint Peter's Canisius has now won at least one postseason game in seven of the last eight seasons.
Senior Brittané Russell set the program record on Sunday, for most games played, breaking the record of Amanda Cavo who set the mark last season and is now at 124 games.
Russell was named to the all-MAAC Second Team by the league's coaches on Monday, for the second consecutive season.
Ellie Radke, Micayla Drysdale, Tauralee Tenn and Stephanie MacDonald were named to the MAAC All-Academic Team on Thursday. Radke, Drysdale and Tenn receive the hoor for the second consecutive season.
Canisius leads the MAAC with six players of 20 or more made 3-pointers, with five of the six shooting better than 30 percent.
Canisius holds the NCAA Division I record for consecutive games with a made 3-pointer, having made a 3-pointer in 484 consecutive games.

SCOUTING THE GRIFFS

Senior Brittané Russell leads Canisius in scoring (12.8), 3-point field goals made (61), 3-point field goal percentage (38.1), assists (3.7) and steals (3.1)
Russell is the first player in MAAC history and fifth player in the NCAA Division I with 1,200 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals. The Southfield, Mich. native is 11 rebounds away from 1,400 points, 600 rebounds, 400 assists and 300 steals for her career.
Russell is the MAAC's active leader in assists (421), steals (332) and consecutive starts (68).
Russell has made a 3-pointer in the last 27 games — the longest stretch of her career and the second-longest streak in program history, one game off matching the program record.
Russell has two or more steals in 27 of the last 33 games and in 90 games in her career.
Russell has at least four rebounds in 21 games this season.
In MAAC play, Russell ranked third in 3-point field goal percentage (43.5), first in steals (2.9) and second in 3-point field goals made per game (2.4).
Senior Ellie Radke ranks second on the team in scoring (11.5 points) and first in rebounding (6.3) — setting career highs in both categories.
Radke is averaging 14.3 points, 7.7 rebounds in the last nine games.
A 2009 All-Tournament Team seelction, Radke leads active Griffs in scoring at the MAAC Tournament with a 11.7 points per game average in five career MAAC Tournament Games.
Radke has scored at least 10 points in the first half of seven games this season, including two of the last three games.
Radke has made 35 3-pointers this season after making 18 during her first three seasons combined. Since missing the first 25 3-point attempts of her career, the Monroe, Wisc. is shooting 31.5 percent from behind the arc.
Junior Micayla Drysdale is the program's all-time leader in 3-point field goal percentage, ranking first at 39.2 percent. Drysdale has made two or more 3-pointers in 14 games this season and in 45 games in her career.
In six career MAAC Tournament games, Drysdale has an assist-turnover ratio of 2.30.
Drysdale is averaging 7.4 points and shooting 40.6 percent on 3-point field goals in eight games as a reserve this season.
Senior Brianna Lucas moved into the starting lineup against Buffalo on Dec. 5, and has started the last 24 games. Lucas has played in 123 of 124 career games, the second-most games played by a Golden Griffin in program history (one behind Russell's program-record total of 124).
Lucas has a career assist-turnover ratio of 1.23, including a 1.56 assist-turnover ratio on the season and 2.00 ratio since Jan. 18.
The New Freedom, Pa. native is shooting 43.8 percent on 3-pointers in seven career MAAC Tournament games.
In MAAC games this season, Lucas shot 41.2 percent on 3-pointers in the final 10 minutes of the game.
Since moving into the starting lineup against Siena on Jan. 5, freshman Allison Braun is third on the team in minutes per game (28.8).
Braun has recorded at least five rebounds in seven of the last 11 games and is averaging 6.6 points during the past eight games while shooting 47.6 percent from the field.
The Erie, Pa. native leads the team in plus/minus (+2.3 per 40 minutes) and has a positive plus/minus in a team-high 17 games on the season.
Braun has made 21 of her last 22 free-throw attempts, with her streak of 18 straight makes ending against Saint Peter's on Thursday.
Freshman Ashley Durham is averaging 9.0 points during the last four games and 7.1 points per game since Jan. 16. Durham matched a career high with 12 points against Fairfield on Sunday.
Durham is shooting 41.4 percent on 3-pointers in the last 10 games and is 8-for-16 in the last four games.
The Millville, N.J. native leads the team in free-throw percentage (82.3).
Senior Tasia Lee is fourth on the team in scoring (6.2 points per game) to go along with 3.1 rebounds per game and a 38.4 field-goal percentage, which ranks second on the team.
Lee has reached double figures in six games this year, which have all come off the bench, and is averaging 7.0 points as a reserve this season.
Freshman Whitney Ellenor is averaging 5.6 points and shooting 44.4 percent from the field during the past nine games.
Ellenor has 40-minute averages of 10.1 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks.
The Pickering, Ontario native eads the team in blocks (21) and has at least one block in 14 of the last 17 games.
Junior Tauralee Tenn has started four of the past five games ¬— the first four starts of her career.
Tenn has 40-minute averages of 8.3 points and 7.4 rebounds.
The Nepean, Ontario native has gotten to the free-throw line 28 times in the last nine games.
Junior Caitlin Krull is averaging 7.5 minutes in the last 11 games.
Krull grabbed a career-high six rebounds in a career-high 21 minutes against Siena on Jan. 31.
Canisius is 6-1 this season when shooting 40 percent or better from the field, with its only loss coming against Manhattan on Feb. 21, when the Griffs shot 43.1 percent in a 78-71 loss.
Canisius is 2-12 on the season when allowing 60 or more points.
Canisius has used nine starting lineups on the season, with seven Golden Griffins making their first career starts.

MARIST SCOUT

Marist enters the postseason with a 23-7 record and 15-3 record in the MAAC, having won its seventh consecutive regular-season title.
The Red Foxes dropped three MAAC games on the road this season, including a 65-62 loss at Manhattan on Sunday. It the three losses, Marist allowed 65 points per game, committed 17 turnovers per game and yielded a 44.4 percent field goal percentage to its opponents.
Senior Rachele Fitz leads Marist at 18 points and 8.2 rebounds per game while shooting 56.7 percent from the floor. Fitz was named the MAAC Player of the Year for a third time Thursday night.
Erica Allenspach, an all-MAAC First-Team selection, is second at 13.6 points while shooting a league-best 43.9 percent on 3-pointers.
Sophomore Corielle Yarde has had a breakout season at 13.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.
In MAAC play, Marist was first in scoring offense, scoring defense, scoring margin, FT percentage (first nationally), FG percentage and FG percentage defense, second in 3-point FG percentage and 3-point FG made per game, fifth in 3-point FG defense and rebounding margin and fourth in turnover margin.
Brian Giorgis is in his eighth season at Marist and has a 191-61 record.

CANISIUS VS. MARIST

Marist leads the all-time series 20-13 over the Golden Griffins. Marist has won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the teams, with the lone Canisius win a 68-60 victory in Poughkeepsie on Feb. 6, 2009.
The teams are meeting for the ninth time in the 26 months, playing in the postseason for the seventh time overall and third straight season.

RECAP OF SEASON SERIES

Marist swept Canisius with both games between the teams taking place in the month of January.
In the Jan. 29 meeting, Canisius scored the first 13 points of the game and held a nine-point halftime lead. Marist recovered to shoot 60 percent in the second half, outscoring Canisius 40-22 in the second half to win 54-45.
In the Jan. 3 meeting, Marist broke open the game by scoring the last 13 points of the first half en route to building an 18-point halftime lead and defeating Canisius 73-37.
Senior Tasia Lee led Canisius by averaging a team-best 14 points and 7.5 rebounds, including a career-high 17 points at Poughkeepsie.

FIVE TIMES IN SEVEN YEARS

Canisius and Marist meet in the MAAC Championship for the fifth time in the last seven seasons.
The teams have met in the title game of the MAAC Championship three times during that stretch, including a 60-59 Canisius win in 2005 and 78-63 Marist win last season.
Canisius is the only team in the MAAC to play Marist five times in the postseason during the past seven seasons, with Iona (four times) the only other school to play the Red Foxes more than twice.
Julianne Viani and Erica Allenspach each had 22 points for the Red Foxes, as the duo combined to make eight of Marist's 10 3-pointers.
The last meeting between the teams in the quarterfinals came in 2008, when No. 8 Canisius lost 54-44 to No. 1 seed Marist. The Griffs held a 26-24 halftime lead, but shot 18 percent, including 1-for-15 on 3-pointers in the second half, in the 10-point loss.

NOTES FROM THURSDAY'S FIRST ROUND

Senior Brittané Russell topped the 1,400-point mark for her career.
Senior Ellie Radke became the first Griff to score 20 points in a MAAC Championship game since Amanda Cavo in the quarterfinals of the 2006 MAAC Championship in Bridgeport, Conn. when Cavo had 21 in a 60-55 win against Fairfield on March 3, 2006.
Canisius scored 30 points in each half for the fifth time this season.
Canisius shot 19 percent on 3-pointers after shooting better than 43 percent on 3-pointers in each of the previous three games.
Canisius tied the program's MAAC Championship record with 38 free-throw attempts.
Canisius won as the lower seed in the MAAC Championship for the first time since the 2005 title game and improves to 6-7 as the lower seed since 2000.