Marist women’s basketball coasted to a 73-41 victory over Lafayette, as four Red Foxes scored in double-digits. Marist shot 50 percent from the field and 40.0% from three-point range in the win.
Redshirt junior guard Lexie Tarul and sophomore guard Julia Corsentino led the way in scoring for Marist (2-1) each putting up 13 points. Junior forward Ciara Croker had 12 points herself and junior center Morgan Lee had a double-double performance with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“Something we’ve talked about a lot in this preseason is our balance,” said Marist head coach Erin Doughty. “So to have four people in double digits then another with nine and another with eight [points] really speaks to our roster and how we have a lot of people who can get it done.”
Marist and Lafayette (1-2) both spent some time feeling each other out on offense, with both sides being forced to take some difficult shots. The Red Foxes were able to knock those down, however, with Tarul making a long two-pointer with the shot clock winding down for her first points of the game.
Senior guard Catie Cunnigham picked up a pair of offensive rebounds to give herself easy layups, scoring four of her nine points in the early going.
Freshman guard Danielle Williamsen got her night going with a shot from long range late in the first quarter. Williamsen started out 0/2 from deep but continued to play with confidence.
The guards got it done late in the quarter for Marist, with Corsentino, Williamsen and junior Jackie Piddock all draining three-pointers to give the Red Foxes a 21-8 lead after the first 10 minutes.
Lee began to make an imprint for the Red Foxes on a crafty post move midway through the second quarter to stretch the Marist lead to 18.
The Leopards finally found some offensive momentum with sophomore forward Tasha Chudy and junior guard Kay Donahue delivering the damage. The duo sparked an 11-5 run in the final four minutes, trailing just 32-20 to Marist at the end of the half.
Lafayette shot just 21.7% from the field overall in the first two frames, going 0/7 from beyond the arc. Senior guard Abby Antognoli entered the game averaging 16.5 points thus far this season but was held scoreless both headed into halftime and in the game.
“She can score at all three levels and she has an extremely high motor,” said Doughty. “So we wanted to make sure she saw different people. We didn’t want it to be one person’s job.”
Piddock opened up the second half with a wide-open corner three. Piddock followed that up with a nice feed to Tarul for an east bucket as she tallied six assists on the night.
“It was a huge group effort,” said Piddock. “Everyone that came in contributed valuable minutes and did what they needed to do.”
The Red Foxes did not stop there, with Croker knocking down a jumper at the top of the key and Tarul knocking down her second three of the game. Both baskets were assisted by Williamsen to mount a 44-26 Marist advantage.
Croker stayed in a groove with two more mid-range shots late in the quarter to give her 10 points through three quarters. One of her rare misses came in the final seconds of the third, but Corsentino was in the right spot to clean it up for the easy layup to give Marist a 57-31 advantage heading into the fourth. The Red Foxes had nine offensive rebounds in the game, bouncing back from having just two against Cornell.
“One of the things we talked about was not only our defensive rebounding but giving ourselves second opportunities [through offensive rebounding],” said Doughty. “We want to give ourselves those second chances and limit our opponents to one.”
Tarul made her third triple of the game to start the final frame, marking 3 or more three-pointers in all three games this season.
“I think it’s just been about putting in that extra work with my coach,” said Tarul. “Shooting almost every other day outside of practice, sometimes every day just helps in getting my confidence up.”
Corsentino drained her third three of the game as well late in the fourth to make her the leading scorer for Marist. Corsentino dropped 23 points against Lafayette last season.
Marist cruised the rest of the way to win their second straight. The Red Foxes now turn their focus to Stony Brook in a road matchup on Monday, Nov. 18 at 7 p.m.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo; Photo from Ricky Torres
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