Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Canisius University Athletics

#Griffs The Official Home of the Canisius University Golden Griffins | #Griffs
The Canisius women's basketball team celebrates a win over St. Bonaventure
Joe Lehrman
63
Winner Canisius Canis 3-3,0-0 MAAC
56
St. Bonaventure SBU 2-5,0-0 Atlantic 10
Winner
Canisius Canis
3-3,0-0 MAAC
63
Final
56
St. Bonaventure SBU
2-5,0-0 Atlantic 10
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Canisius Canis 16 19 15 13 63
St. Bonaventure SBU 16 8 15 17 56

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women's Basketball Stumps St. Bonaventure on the Road

Senior Mackenzie Amalia posted a season-high 20 points while sophomore Sisi Eleko pulled down a game-best 13 rebounds to help propel Canisius to a 63-56 victory over Little Three rival St. Bonaventure in intercollegiate women's basketball action Wednesday at the Reilly Center in Olean, N.Y.
 
With the win, the Golden Griffins evened their record at 3-3 on the young season, while the Bonnies fell to 2-5.
 
Along with Amalia's 20 points, Eleko would add in nine of her own with junior Athina Lexa collecting eight points off 4-of-6 shooting. On the glass, graduate student Grace Heeps and sophomore Mackenzie Amalia would haul in six rebounds apiece. Heeps also pitched in two steals and two blocks for the Blue and Gold.
 
Isabellah Middleton paced St. Bonaventure with 20 points and nine rebounds while Kirah Dandridge added in 10 boards. Dani Haskell ended the night with 11 points and three rebounds for the Bonnies, who shot 38.3 percent from the field and made just 2-of-17 tries from 3-point range.
 
Canisius would race out to an early 11-4 lead, paced by seven points from Eleko, with 4:31 left in the opening frame. The Bonnies would respond with their own 12-5 run to knot the score, 16-16, entering the second quarter.
 
After a defensive stalemate for most of the frame, the Griffs would find themselves ahead by one, 23-22, with less than five minutes to play. After the media timeout, the Canisius offense would awaken, ending the frame on a 12-2 stretch, capped by a buzzer-beater from Amalia to enter the locker room ahead by double-digits, 35-24.
   
After two quick Bonnies baskets to start the frame, the Griffs offense took advantage of an Amalia bucket to spark a short 7-2 spurt to grab a 41-31 lead with 5:30 to play in the third.
 
Canisius and St. Bonaventure would exchange scores for the remainder of the frame, giving the Griffs a 50-39 lead entering the final frame.
   
The fourth quarter saw the team exchange scores for most of the period, with a LaMora layup with 3:10 to play helping Canisius seal the seven-point victory.
 

POSTGAME COMMENTS GAME NOTES
• Thursday's game served as the 55th all-time meeting between the two longtime Little Three rivals. Under Nusseibeh, Canisius is now 2-1 against St. Bonaventure.
• Former Canisius forward Kayla Jackson (2020-2022) coached against her former team for the first time in her career on Thursday. The former Griff appeared in 31 contests with 27 starts during her time with the program.
• For the second straight game, every Canisius player that checked into the game scored at least two points.
• Amalia tied her season-high in 3-pointers with four makes from beyond the arc. 
• Graduate student Jane McCauley set a season high in points with six on Thursday. 
• Nusseibeh is the first Canisius coach since Terry Zeh to defeat Bonnies head coach Jim Crowley on the road since Dec. 17, 2005. Zeh and his Griffs team would defeat St. Bonaventure in that match-up, 77-67.
• Canisius shot 10-of-26 (.385) from beyond the arc compared to just 2-of-17 (.118) for St. Bonaventure.
 
UP NEXT
Canisius returns to action on Dec. 8 with a non-conference contest at Binghamton. Tip-off for the matchup between the Griffs and the Bearcats is scheduled for 6 p.m., with the game airing on ESPN+.
 
Print Friendly Version