For Marist women’s basketball, it was more of the same, as Mount St. Mary’s cruised to a 72-57 win over the Red Foxes.
A Marist team (5-20, 3-12 MAAC conference) mired in an eight-game losing streak and coming off their worst loss of the season, a 90-64 shellacking at the hands of Niagara, continued to see their season spiral. After a competitive first quarter, the game quickly got out of hand and Marist never recovered.
Mount St. Mary’s (11-14, 8-8 MAAC) entered tonight’s contest playing much better of late, having won three of four and only losing by two to a dominant Fairfield squad. They continued their late season upswing on the backs of a team-wide effort, with four players scoring in double figures and four players with at least five rebounds.
“Their guards are really dynamic. They can shoot the three, they can shoot the pull-up, they can attack off the ball screen, and they’re really unselfish, so if you step and help, they’re gonna find who’s open,” said Marist head coach Erin Doughty.
The Red Foxes got off to a shaky start on offense, with senior forward Zaria Shazer missing multiple shots and getting called for a travel violation. In contrast, the Mount came out of the gate hot; senior guard Jessica Tomasetti and redshirt junior guard Jada Lee buried threes from the wing to give the Mount a 10-2 lead.
Sophomore guard Jackie Piddock finally made Marist’s first triple of the day midway through the first quarter, and moments later followed it up with another one. Sophomore forward Ciara Croker also checked in off the bench and made a pair of jumpers, cutting the deficit to 15-12 late in the quarter.
With just over a minute left in the first, sophomore center Morgan Lee made a layup through the foul and swished the ensuing free throw to tie things up. Tomasetti drilled another 3-pointer on the other end; senior point guard Kiara Fisher then made a floater and drew a foul to tie it back up at 18 as the first quarter expired.
“We closed the first quarter really well and then to start the second quarter the way we did, it just isn’t gonna cut it,” said Doughty.
The Mountaineers continued to sizzle from downtown, as Jada Lee sank another three to take back the lead for the Mount; the redshirt junior finished the night with 15 points. Junior guard Jo Raflo, an efficient deep threat, got off to a slow 0-5 start from the floor but made a baseline shot midway through the second to get off the schneid. Tomasetti then connected on her third 3-pointer of the first half to open up a 28-19 lead for Mount St. Mary’s; she finished the game with 16 points.
Shoddy offensive execution continued to plague Marist as it has all season long, and this was punctuated by an emphatic block made by Raflo on a Piddock 3-pointer attempt. Raflo then connected from deep on the other end to put her team up by 14 as the half neared. The Red Foxes shot only 2-15 from the field in the second quarter and trailed 37-23 at the break.
At the start of the third quarter, Raflo rendered her slow start a thing of the past, making a jumper, a three and a floater to push the Mount’s lead to 19. Mount St. Mary’s held onto the double-digit lead for the balance of the third quarter, taking a commanding 60-34 lead into the fourth.
As Mount St. Mary’s salted the game away in the fourth quarter, Marist bench players including as Piddock, Croker, freshman guard Julia Corsentino and sophomore guard Morgan Tompkins played extended minutes. When it was all said and done, Marist had lost in blowout fashion once again by a score of 72-57.
“That group that rotated in towards the end of the third and the fourth quarter, I really liked their energy. I liked how they continued to fight until the end, and we have to find that for forty minutes if we want to be successful in this league,” said Doughty.
Marist will try to snap the nine-game losing streak on Saturday at 1 p.m. when they travel to New Jersey to take on Rider. The Broncs have struggled on the whole this season, posting a subpar 8-16 overall record (5-10 in the MAAC), although they have heated up lately in winning their last three matchups. The Red Foxes will have their hands full in trying to slow down Rider star guard Taylor Langan; the graduate student is averaging over 14 points and eight boards per contest this season.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Jaylen Rizzo
Graphic by Raegan Van Zandt
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