The Red Foxes could not recover from a 16-point deficit to Drexel in the first half, resulting in a 64-53 loss to start the season.
Redshirt junior guard Lexie Tarul led the scoring for Marist with 17, along with junior center Morgan Lee dropping 16 points in the contest. On the other side, senior guard Amaris Baker delivered 21 points for the Dragons.
The first notable action of the game came before tip-off, as senior guard Catie Cunningham started on the bench while freshman guard Danielle Williamsen got the start in her first collegiate game.
A rocky start for Marist included three turnovers on their first three possessions, leading to a 7-0 start for Drexel with graduate student guard Cara McCormack draining a three in the process. The Red Foxes called a timeout early and Cunningham checked into the game for Williamsen after the break.
Lee broke the ice with an easy layup for the Red Foxes, while Williamsen earned her first collegiate points with a triple later in the first quarter.
Baker drained a triple with 10 seconds to go in the first frame, but junior guard Jackie Piddock answered right back, pushing the ball quickly up the court and heaving one up at the horn to cut the lead to four.
It was all Drexel in the second quarter as Baker continued to cruise offensively, delivering six points toward the end of the first half to give Drexel a 38-22 lead. Baker had 17 points on 55% shooting from the field in a first half where she played all 20 minutes.
Drexel as a team shot 56% from the field and 54.5% from long range in the first half, while Marist sat at 30.8% from the field and 29.4% from beyond the arc.
The Red Foxes’ turnover problems from last year were once again apparent in the first two quarters, where they posted 13 of their 21 total giveaways.
Marist looked to get things going in the second half, as they nearly copied and pasted the Dragons’ first-quarter start; forcing three turnovers and delivering a pair of triples, both from Tarul, which cut the lead down to eight to open up the third quarter. Tarul had 14 of her 17 total points come in the second half.
Drexel remained out of sorts after the early timeout with a couple more turnovers, but McCormack ended the drought for Drexel, as she knocked down a mid-range jumper for the Dragons’ first points of the second half.
Drexel got into a groove after this, as both McCormack and Baker delivered the damage to extend the lead back to 13 going into the fourth quarter.
The turnovers came back in the final quarter for the Red Foxes, with three coming in the first five minutes. By the time they limited the giveaways, it was too late and the Dragons held on the rest of the way.
Marist certainly created some second-half momentum to build on, as they will look to expand upon that in their first home game of the season against Cornell on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Edited by Jimmy Tsiantoulas
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photos from Marist Athletics
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