On the first-annual World Basketball Day in honor of Dr. James Naismith’s introduction of the sport on this day in 1891, Marist women’s basketball lost their ninth straight contest in a 74-61 loss to Cornell.
The Big Red entered play at 5-5, attempting to get back above .500 following a 78-71 loss at Syracuse on Monday. As for Marist, they tried to end their eight-game skid following their 2-1 start to the season. The Red Foxes’ last win came over a month ago in an 84-76 victory at Lafayette on November 15.
For the majority of the losing streak, Marist’s issue has been putting the ball in the basket. In both losses in the Savannah Hoops Invitational, the Red Foxes scored a respectable 64 and 67 points, but in their next five outings failed to surpass 45 points.
In Monday’s loss to Canisius, they put together their best offensive performance in nearly a month, totaling 62 points. The Red Foxes built off of the offense’s recent success in this afternoon’s matchup with Cornell.
It did not look like they would at first; the Marist offense struggled early, missing their first eight shots of the contest. The same could not be said about Cornell, as they stormed out to a commanding 15-0 lead before Marist could even get on the scoreboard.
Junior guard Catie Cunningham finally got Marist on the board with a triple just before the halfway mark in the first quarter. From there, Marist clawed their way back into the game by clamping down on defense and converting a higher proportion of attempts.
Sophomore forward Ciara Croker hit a wide-open mid-range shot on a good feed from sophomore guard Jackie Piddock, and Fisher followed it up with two free throws to cut the lead to 10. With under a minute to play in the first quarter, sophomore center Morgan Lee sunk a turnaround jumper to bring the deficit to single digits. After their 15-0 start, the Big Red only managed four points but held onto a 19-11 lead at the end of the first.
Marist did not waste any time to start the second quarter, as once again Cunningham got the Red Foxes started with a three-pointer. Freshman guard Azareya Kilgoe answered with a two, but Marist cut the deficit to just two points on a quick run culminating in a corner three from redshirt sophomore Lexie Tarul.
Cornell burned a timeout that proved to be effective, as out of the break the Big Red scored seven straight points, five of which came from freshman guard/forward Rachel Kaus. Marist did not back down; Cunningham sunk her third triple of the game and Shazer hit a long two from the top of the key.
Shazer’s basket made it a two-possession game with less than a minute left in the half, but sophomore guard/forward Vivienne Knee banked in a 3-point shot off the glass from the right wing to put Cornell out front 37-28. Before the half came to a close, Shazer converted on two free throws; both teams headed to the locker room with the scoreboard reading 37-30.
Each squad traded buckets for the first four minutes of the third frame of play, highlighted by a smooth crossover from senior guard Kaya Ingram that freed her of Fisher, and she stuck a midrange jumper from near the top of the key to push Cornell’s lead back up to seven.
Marist finally got some stops on defense to complement their improved offensive output. Freshman guard Julia Corsentino made her first basket of the game, then Cunningham scored on the ensuing possession while also drawing a foul. She hit the free throw, shrinking the lead to two at the media timeout.
Following the short break, Croker rolled off a screen and laid the ball in, finally tying the game back up. Cornell took the lead back on an Ingram two, and on Marist’s next possession, Fisher threw an errant pass to Croker. Off the deflection, the ball found Cunningham, who put in the layup while being fouled, tying the score at 45; she missed what would’ve been a go-ahead free throw.
Cornell struck back with a free throw, giving them a 46-45 lead in the final moments of the third quarter. Before it could come to a close, Marist took their first lead of the game on a clutch 3-pointer from Piddock. The lead was short-lived; Jackson tied it back up with a pull-up jumper as the buzzer sounded.
The Big Red came out firing to start the fourth quarter, jumping out to a 10-2 run in just the first few minutes of the quarter. Marist head coach Erin Doughty called a timeout following a Kilgoe three that put Cornell up eight with six and a half minutes to play, hoping to stop the bleeding and get the Marist offense back on track.
The Big Red’s lead never fell below eight for the rest of the contest, as they pulled away to win 74-61. Cornell’s 26 points in the fourth doubled Marist’s 13. In the losing effort, Cunningham led the way for Marist with a career-high 18 points.
Today’s loss to Cornell puts an end to non-conference play for the Red Foxes, as well as an end to their play in 2023. Marist will have 16 days off before they play again at Iona on January 6th at 1 p.m. While the time off may help reset the Red Foxes, when they next take the court in 2024, it will be nearly two months since their last victory.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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