WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

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Brooke Meunier

BUFFALO, NY - The Canisius College Golden Griffins shot 54.1 percent from the floor and scored 55 points in the first half en route to an 81-65 win over the University at Buffalo women's basketball team tonight in front of 817 fans at the Koessler Center. The Bulls outscored the Griffs by a 40-26 margin in the second half and had three players finish in double figures in scoring, led by 15 points from junior Brooke Meunier (Saginaw, MI/Heritage), but it was not enough to overcome Canisius' first-half dominance.

Canisius (4-3) took an 11-2 lead to start the game and then broke it open with an 18-2 run that put it up by 21, 33-12, with 5:09 to play in the first half. The run began with a layup by Megan Lyte, a steal and layup by Becky Zak and back-to-back three-pointers by Cheri Wittlieb and Jessie Lamparski for a 10-0 spurt in a span of 1:41 before freshman Heather Turner (West Seneca, NY/Mount Mercy Academy) got the Bulls on the board with a layup at the 8:29 mark. The Griffs rattled off the next eight points, five from Lyte, to complete the 18-2 run, and a later 9-0 run put them up by 30, 46-16, with 2:42 on the clock. Canisius led by as many as 32 before going to the lockerroom with a 55-25 advantage.

Meunier led the Bulls' attack in the second half, scoring 13 of her game-high 15 points. The Bulls shot 41.7 percent in the final 20 minutes of the game (15-for-36) while holding Canisius to just 6-for-25 shooting from the floor (24.0 percent). The Bulls finished the game 26-for-64 (40.6 percent) while Canisius was 26-for-62 (41.9 percent). Buffalo dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Griffs by a 48-39 margin, but the Bulls converted 22 offensive rebounds into just 12 second-chance points. Buffalo had 26 turnovers to Canisius' 18, and the Griffs had 26 points off of turnovers to the Bulls' 12. Buffalo also struggled from the free throw line, shooting just 8-for-21 in the game (38.1 percent). Canisius was 23-for-32 from the charity stripe (71.9 percent).

"Take nothing away from Canisius," said Buffalo head coach Cheryl Dozier. "They really got after us defensively and we backed down a bit. That's a sign of an inexperienced team, but it's not an excuse nine games into the season. I refuse to think we don't have the talent that we need. We show it at times, we just can't sustain it right now. We have to figure out how to put 40 minutes together, and we need to go back to the drawing board and do that with fundamentals."

In addition to Meunier's team-leading 15 points, senior Allison Bennett (Springfield, OH/Kenton Ridge) and Turner finished with 14 apiece. Turner also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for her third double-double of the year. The Griffs were led by Zak with 13 points and six assists. Wittlieb and Lyte also reached double digits with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

The Bulls (1-8) are next at Oakland for a 7 pm contest on Tuesday, December 21.