With a rainstorm raging outside of McCann Arena, an equally powerful game unfolded on the court, as Marist women’s basketball lost a rollercoaster overtime game to Saint Peter’s, 58-57.
The highlights were numerous; the Red Foxes (5-23, 3-15 MAAC conference) failed to score for the first 7:20 of play before nearly coming back to win it, freshman Peacocks forward Fatmata Janneh had an overwhelmingly dominant 20-20 performance (24 points, 22 rebounds) and sophomore guard Jackie Piddock imposed her defensive presence with five steals. Yet when it was all over, the end result was the same for Marist, as the team lost their 12th straight contest.
The Peacocks (7-20, 4-14 MAAC) came out firing, with senior guard Rachel Kuhl feeding Janneh inside for the game’s first points. A pair of triples, including one from Janneh, extended the Peacock lead to 11-0 late in the first quarter.
Marist finally earned their first points nearly eight minutes in when redshirt sophomore guard Lexie Tarul swished a three-ball from the wing. Looking to close the gap, Marist continued attempting threes; freshman guard Julia Corsentio drew a foul on a 3-pointer attempt and made all three free throws. After one, Marist trailed 15-8.
Piddock made waves early in the second quarter; she assisted senior forward Zaria Shazer inside and then made a pair of free throws to make it 15-12. On the other end of the floor, Piddock played smothering man defense.
“Jackie is a fighter,” said Marist head coach Erin Doughty. “That’s what she does. She just competes and plays hard, and does whatever we ask her to do.”
Marist continued to display intensity with Shazer and junior guard Catie Cunningham fighting for tough offensive rebounds on ensuing possessions. Unfortunately for the Red Foxes, they could not knock their shots down, and a pair of threes from graduate student guard Maya Hyacienth put the Peacocks up by nine.
Janneh continued her dominant first half by picking apart Marist on the interior, and Doughty subsequently swapped out starting center Morgan Lee for a brief stretch. All told, Janneh had a double-double in the first half (12 points, 12 rebounds), controlling the boards and putting her team up 31-23 at the break.
“[Janneh] is so strong, but she’s also so mobile, so it’s hard to put a guard on her because she’s very strong and physical on the block, but then she can also face up,” said Doughty. “Obviously [Shazer] guarding her was a big part of the gameplan.”
Shazer did not appear in the second half; the MAAC leader in minutes per game exited in what Doughty described as an “upper-body injury,” so the Red Foxes would have to fight onward without their All-MAAC forward. Lee began to heat up for Marist in the third quarter with a pair of layups to cut the deficit to seven. The Peacocks continued to make a living from downtown, with threes raining down from Kuhl and Hyacienth.
Trailing by 10 with two minutes left in the third quarter, Piddock continued to be a pest defensively, as she swiped a steal from Hyacienth, leading to Marist points on the other end. Regardless, Marist still trailed 41-35 with 10 minutes left to play.
Tarul opened the fourth quarter with a corner three that cut the Marist deficit to just three. A Piddock layup made it a one-point game at the 6:49 mark, and she was not done yet. Moments later, she ripped another key steal that gave Marist possession and sent Corsentino to the line, where she tied things at 41. History repeated itself on the ensuing possession, with Piddock earning her fifth steal of the day and Corsentino making another free throw to put Marist up 42-41.
The fourth quarter began as a complete reversal of the first quarter, as this time it was the Peacocks being held scoreless for the first half of the quarter. Janneh was having none of it, as she bulldozed inside to make a layup, draw a foul and give her team the lead right back.
The back and forth continued, and two Corsentino free throws tied the game up at 46 with under three minutes remaining. After back-and-forth turnovers from both teams, Tarul committed a costly turnover that led to an emphatic Janneh layup on the other end.
Pulses in McCann Arena continued to race as Cunningham tied it back up at 48 by making her free throws, setting up Saint Peter’s with a chance to win the game. Janneh tried to cap off her strong day with a buzzer beater, but strong interior defense gave Marist the ball back with .4 seconds remaining, and the game went to overtime.
Corsentino opened extra time with a 3-pointer, and Lee made a putback layup to give Marist a two-possession advantage. Janneh remained undeterred, reeling off a high-intensity layup through a foul and then making a smooth jumper to give her team a 54-53 lead.
McCann Arena exploded a few possessions later when Tarul drilled her fourth three of the game to give Marist a 56-55 lead. Saint Peter’s responded once more, as sophomore forward Jada Leonard made a layup through a foul and nailed the ensuing free throw to put the Peacocks up by one with five seconds left.
Marist could not convert on their final possession; Doughty’s preferred play was designed to counter Saint Peter’s man defense, which the Peacocks have relied upon in end-of-game situations, although she did also have a zone play drawn up. The Peacocks matched up in man, and as soon as Piddock touched the ball, they shrewdly switched to zone and effectively threw Marist off.
“With that amount of time and once it was a zone, we needed to just move it around the perimeter to an open shooter. Kudos to them, they did a good job of being deceptive with it and disguising it,” said Doughty.
Marist will hope for better late-game fortune the next time they take the floor; they face Manhattan on Thursday at 7 p.m. in their final home bout of 2024.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo Credit: Jaylen Rizzo
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X and TikTok, and sign up to receive daily alerts here.
