ALBANY — The Canisius women’s basketball team will take on the Niagara University Purple Eagles at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in the MAAC tournament at the Times Union Center.
The Canisius women’s basketball team concluded the regular season on Sunday with a 62-49 loss to Quinnipiac in Hamden Conn. The loss secured the 8th seed for the Golden Griffins, as Canisius finished with a 9-20 overall mark and an 8-12 MAAC record. The 8th-place finish in the standings put Canisius in the 8 seed vs. 9 seed matchup, a game Canisius is familiar with as of late, as it’s the third straight year the Griffs have played the first round of the tournament in that slot. Against Quinnipiac, a quick start, which saw Canisius take a 16-10 lead into the first intermission, was quickly foiled as the Bobcats outscored Canisius 19-7 in the second quarter, stealing a lead it would never relinquish. The Griffs only had one double-figure scorer, as Saliah Serrette led the Griffs with 12 points. Sara Hinriksdottir, was next on the scoring list, posting seven points, against a stout Quinnipiac defense. On the season overall, Hinriksdottir is Leading the team offensively, and averages 15.0 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per contest. She also shoots near 50 percent with a mark of 46.6 percent from the field. Lauren D’Hont is second on the team in scoring, averaging 10 points per game, to go along with a 3.8 rebound per contest mark. Also flirting with a double-digit average is Margret Halfdanardottir, who averages 9.1 per contest. The long-range specialist is shooting 38.0 percent from beyond the arc. The Blue and Gold is averaging 58.6 points per game, while opponents are tallying 64.1 points per contest. As a team the Griffs are averaging 32.1 rebounds per game, while opponents are bringing down 37.8 for a -5.7 rebounding margin. Turnovers have also been an area of concern for the Blue and Gold as the team averages 15.8, while foes average 14.0, for a margin of -1.9.
The Purple Eagles finished the season having lost three of its final four games, tallying a win over the Peacocks, but falling Siena, Rider and Monmouth. Niagara secured the No. 9 seed in the tournament, finishing the season with a 8-21 record and 5-15 conference mark. Victoria Rampado leads the team, averaging 16.9 points per game to go along with a 7.9 rebounds per game average. Kaylee Stroemple also averages double-figures with a 13.0 point per game mark, and registers 6.1 rebounds per contest. Niagara is averaging 59.8 points per game, while allowing 67.7 points per game to its opponents. Niagara on average shoots 40 percent from the floor, while foes are shooting at a 42 percent clip. Turnovers have been an issue for the Purple Eagles, as the squad is averaging 15.8 giveaways, while the team is averaging 5.7 steals per contest.
The Griffs come into the contest leading in the all-time series history 56-35. Despite losing to the Purple Eagles in the MAAC tournament last season, the Griffs strung together another two-game winning streak, sweeping Niagara in the season-series for the third-straight season. Canisius holds a 25-14 advantage when playing at the KAC and a 26-16 advantage when playing up in Lewiston. The Blue and Gold and Niagara have faced each other eight times at neutral sites/MAAC Tournament games and Canisius owns a 5-3 lead. Under head coach Terry Zeh, Canisius has seen much prosperity when it comes to facing Niagara as the head coach is 21-9 all-time against the Purple Eagles. Zeh has posted identical 9-4 marks at home and the road and is 4-1 at neutral sites.
With a pair of wins from the Canisius hockey team in mid February, the Canisius Golden Griffins clinched the 2016-17 Battle of the Bridge. It is the ninth time in 11 years the Griffs have defeated Niagara in the Battle of the Bridge. Canisius currently holds a 19-7 lead in the points this season through the fall-season and each basketball meeting is worth two points. The Battle of the Bridge is an all-sports competition between the schools. Points are awarded for all regular-season, conference match-ups, except for cross country, swimming and diving and golf where the points are awarded based on results in the MAAC Championship. Niagara’s only wins came in the inaugural competition in 2006-07 and also won in 2009-10.
Sophomore Sara Hinriksdottir earned her first ever All-MAAC award, as she was named to the All-MAAC second team on Monday. Hinriskdottir comes into the tournament, ranked sixth in the conference in points per game, notching 15 per contest. She has also been a source of rebounds for Canisius averaging 5.9 boards. It didn’t take Hinriksdottir long to show that she was a different player this season, as she quickly set her new career-high in points with a 29-point effort on Dec. 19, against Morehead State. She also hit another milestone against Rider on Feb. 12, as the sophomore recorded her first double-double, scoring 20 points and notching 12 rebounds against the Broncs.
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