The Canisius women's basketball team couldn't overcome shooting 25 percent from the floor and lost 68-54 to Iona College in the Koessler Athletic Center on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Griffins fall to 4-9 overall and 1-1 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Senior Ashley Durham led all players with a season-high 21 points to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Junior Jen Morabito added nine points while senior Allison Braun had five offensive rebounds in 22 minutes off the bench.

"We struggled to contain Iona off the bounce and that let them get what they wanted offensively," Canisius coach Terry Zeh said. "They guarded us tightly but our inability to finish in the post was really costly when the outside shots weren't falling.

Durham scored the first five points of the game for Canisius as the Griffs jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead. A layup from junior Jamie Ruttle put Canisius up 9-6 before Iona scored eight straight points to go up 14-9. The Gaels held the Griffs without a field goal for more than four minutes until a layup from junior Jen Lennox cut the Iona lead to 16-12. After a layup from Braun trimmed the Canisius deficit to 23-20, Iona scored eight straight points to build a double-digit lead and went into the locker room ahead 36-24.

Iona turned its 12-point lead into a 20-point advantage with an 11-3 run, capped by a 3-pointer from Aaliyah Robinson with just over 11 minutes left. The Griffs cut the deficit to 14 points on two occasions late in the game but could never get any closer as Canisius shot 21.1 percent in the second half.

Joy Adams led Iona with 18 points while Damika Martinez had a game-high 11 rebounds. Aleesha Powell scored 15 points and Robinson added 11 points. Iona shot 44.9 percent from the floor, including 10-for-21 (47.6 percent) from behind the arc.

Canisius hits the road for its first conference away games of the season, starting at Rider on Thursday. Game time in Lawrenceville, N.J. is set for noon.

Notes: Canisius starts conference play by splitting its opening two games for the second time in the last three years... Iona defeats Canisius for the sixth time in the last eight meetings in the KAC... For the 20^th time in the last 22^nd meetings, the final deficit was by double digits... Durham has now scored 68 points in the last three games against Iona. The senior is shooting 14-for-30 46.7 percent) from behind the arc in the last 10 games... Braun has 15 offensive rebounds in the last five games... Durham's 21 points are the most by any Golden Griffin this season.