Mia Slater
63
Winner Gannon Gannon 10-1,2-0 PSAC
44
D'Youville DYO 2-5,0-0 ECC
Winner
Gannon Gannon
10-1,2-0 PSAC
63
Final
44
D'Youville DYO
2-5,0-0 ECC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Gannon Gannon 17 20 11 15 63
D'Youville DYO 16 7 10 11 44

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Depleted Golden Knights Ride Suffocating Defense to 63-44 Win at D'Youville

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Gannon women's basketball team only had to overcome a few obstacles on its way to a 63-44 win at D'Youville. For starters the intense lake effect snow storm that hit the Great Lakes region forced the game to be moved from Sunday to Monday. Then the bus got stuck for a period as the team was leaving the Recreation & Wellness Center. That forced the game to be pushed back an hour.

But the largest obstacle was the absence of three starters. Kate Ratliff (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester), Andrea Maibach (Creston, Ohio/Norwayne) and Maddy Wheatley (Canberra, Australia/UCSSC Lake Ginninderra) all missed the game with injuries. That left Jordan Popyk (Novi, Mich./Novi) and Taylor Ethridge (Chesapeake, Va./Catholic) in the starting lineup for the first time in their careers.

But one thing you can always count on with a Cleve Wright-coached team is outstanding defense. The makeshift lineup limited D'Youville to a season-low 44 points as the Saints were held to 29.8 percent shooting from the floor (17-of-57).

The victory leaves the Golden Knights at 10-1 overall after they dropped their first game of the season last Wednesday at Ohio Dominican. Gannon came in ranked second in the most recent WBCA Division II Top 25 and third in the D2CCA poll. D'Youville is now 2-5.

Gannon was led by Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) with 23 points. Claxon entered the game as Gannon's leading scorer. But the Golden Knights received an unexpected contribution from Mia Slater (Canberra, Australia/Canberra Grammar School), who came off the bench to score a career-high 17 points in 27 minutes.

Monday's game was the final non-conference game for the Golden Knights. They return to PSAC action on Friday, December 6 with a crossover game at Mansfield, followed by a game at Shippensburg the next day. The games are the last of a four-game road trip.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Gannon never trailed in the game after scoring the first eight points of the game, six coming on a pair of 3-pointers by Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster). The Saints came back to tie the game at 10-10. Mia Slater's (Canberra, Australia/Canberra Grammar School) layup with 3:36 left gave Gannon the lead for good. The Golden Knights held a slim 17-16 lead after one period.

A 10-0 spurt to start the second quarter allowed Gannon to head to intermission with a 37-23 lead. Olivia Cernuto (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland) opened the period with back-to-back jumpers, one a 3-pointer. Freshman Jordan Popyk (Novi, Mich./Novi) followed with a turnaround jumper and Carissa Dunham (Fairview, Pa./Villa Maria) closed out the run with a 3-pointer. With 6:15 remaining Gannon led 27-16.

A D'Youville basket on the next possession closed the gap to 27-19, but a Slater bucket gave Gannon another double-digit lead and the Saints never got closer than 10 points the rest of the night.

Gannon would outscore D'Youville 20-7 in the second quarter, making 8-of-12 field goals while holding the Saints to 3-of-16.

BY THE NUMBERS
With three starters out the Golden Knights needed Bri Claxon (South Webster, Ohio/South Webster) to step up. The junior guard did just that, making a career-best five 3-pointers in eight attempts on her way to 23 points.  Claxon made 9-of-16 shots overall. She now has 954 career points.

After scoring 18 points in eight previous games Slater scored a career-high 17 points while playing 27 minutes. The 6-foot-2 native of Australia made good on 8-of-11 shots including her first 3-pointer of the season and second of her career. She added a team-high six rebounds.

Jordan Popyk (Novi, Mich./Novi) and Taylor Ethridge (Chesapeake, Va./Catholic) made their first career starts and made significant contributions. Popyk, a freshman post player, finished with eight points. She was also the only Gannon player to go to the foul line, making one-of-two at the charity stripe with 7:38 left in the third quarter. Ethridge, a sophomore guard, added five points and five rebounds.

Olivia Cernuto (Scottdale, Pa./Southmoreland) made her first start of the season at point guard after missing the first seven games while recovering from an injury. The sophomore contributed five points and matched her career high with seven assists. She turned the ball over just once.

Gannon shot a respectable 46.4 percent from the floor (26-of-56) but the story of the game was the suffocating defense. D'Youville shot just 29.8 percent (17-of-57) and was 2-of-19 on 3-pointers. Gannon made 10 three's in 27 tries. The Saints were 8-of-11 at the line.

The Golden Knights held a 37-32 advantage on the glass. Gannon committed 15 turnovers, one more than the Saints.

Led by Cernuto's seven assists the makeshift lineup showed plenty of teamwork. Gannon had 16 assists.

NEXT FOR THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
Gannon wraps up a four-game road trip with a pair of games at PSAC East teams. The Golden Knights play at Mansfield on Friday, December 6 with a 3:00 p.m. tipoff. On Saturday Gannon heads to Shippensburg with the tip set for 1:00 p.m.   
 
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