Marist women’s basketball made a key switch on defense early on in the second quarter to drive themselves to a 62-56 win over Cornell.
After Cornell initially led 22-12 in the second quarter, head coach Erin Doughty switched the Red Foxes from a man-to-man to a 2-3 zone defense, which proved to be pivotal.
“I’m proud of our group because it’s not something we’ve worked on a ton,” said Doughty. “They [Cornell] are a team that made just five threes combined in their first two games. We knew they were going to look to attack inside so we wanted them to beat us with something that they haven’t done yet.”
Despite Cornell out-rebounding Marist 42-23, Marist as a team limited themselves to 11 turnovers while forcing 16 from Cornell. Junior center Morgan Lee led the way for Marist with 14 points despite playing just 20 minutes due to foul trouble. Freshman guard Danielle Williamsen and redshirt junior guard Lexie Tarul both had 11 points for the Red Foxes, with each player draining three shots from beyond the arc.
After a fairly even first ten minutes, Cornell opened up the second quarter on a 9-0 run with junior forward Emily Pape leading the charge. Pape knocked down a triple early and a mid-range jumper to cap off the run for the Big Red, giving her six of her 21 total points in the game. Lee picked up her third foul quickly after entering in the second quarter, putting her back on the bench for the remainder of the half.
Sophomore guard Julia Corsentino and junior guard Jackie Piddock sparked the success from the 2-3 zone defense initially, as the two forced five Cornell turnovers, resulting in a 13-2 run for the Red Foxes. Both finished with two steals in the game, with Piddock delivering eight points and Corsentino providing seven points for Marist, and Marist trimmed the deficit to one at the half.
“I think it’s great to have them on the court together because they’re both combo guards,” said Doughty. “I think they were a great compliment to each other and they both made really big plays, especially in that second quarter.”
Marist picked up where they left off to open up the second half, generating back-to-back turnovers in the zone defense. Tarul drained her second triple while Williamsen got herself an easy layup after picking up the steal amidst a 5-0 burst, forcing first-year Cornell head coach Emily Garner to call an early timeout.
The Red Foxes did not stop there, as Lee, Tarul and Williamsen all knocked down shots from long range to go on a 17-4 run and earn a 12-point lead. Cornell made just one shot in the first eight minutes of the third quarter, as the zone defense continued to give them fits.
The Big Red slightly chipped away at the Marist lead in the final two minutes of the third, but the Red Foxes still held a 46-38 lead entering the final frame.
After Pape made two long-range shots in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, sophomore guard Azareya Kilgoe knocked down a jumper and drew a foul with a little over five minutes to go. Kilgoe missed the ensuing free throw attempt, but sophomore guard/forward Rachel Kaus snagged an offensive rebound and kicked it to Pape, who cashed in on a wide-open three to cut the Marist lead to two.
Cornell picked up three straight offensive rebounds on their next possession; a shooting foul from Ciara Croker allowed the Big Red to tie the game at the free-throw line.
Marist found another response, as Williamsen hit a huge three with just over three minutes to go, giving the Red Foxes back the momentum they had almost completely lost. The freshman scored all 11 of her points in the second half.
“It helped a lot to have my teammates behind me saying ‘keep shooting,’” said Williamsen. “Coaches too, I mean they’ll tell me when to stop shooting but they had the confidence in me today to keep going.”
The Red Foxes forced another miss on defense, leading to another triple, this time from Lee. With under two minutes to go in the game, Lee was fouled on a 3-pointer attempt to put her at the line where she made all three foul shots to give Marist a 62-55 lead that they never looked back on.
“I think ever since high school I enjoy being out there in the final minutes,” said Lee.
The first victory of the season for the Red Foxes puts them at 1-1 as they get ready to face off against Lafayette in Poughkeepsie on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Graphic by Gavin Hard; Photo from Kira Crutcher
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