Marist women’s basketball survived a double-digit third-quarter comeback against Yale to keep them undefeated at home. Junior center Morgan Lee tied the game at 65 with 14.2 seconds remaining and freshman guard Danielle Williamsen sealed it at the free-throw line to give Marist the 67-65 victory.
Redshirt junior Lexie Tarul led the way for the Red Foxes with 14 points including a 3-pointer bucket with 1:34 left in the game. Senior guard/forward Mackenzie Egger set a new career high with 28 points and added four steals for the Bulldogs.
Senior forward Grace Thybulle gave Marist all kinds of problems early on, delivering eight points, three offensive rebounds and two blocks in the first quarter.
The Red Foxes shot 58.3% from the field, but still found themselves down 17-15 in the first quarter due to six turnovers. Marist attempted just three shots from beyond the arc in the first frame despite being a traditionally deep-threatening team so far this season.
Marist entered the second quarter with some energy, piecing together a 9-to-1 run before Yale head coach Dalila Eshe called a timeout. Junior guard Jackie Piddock and Williamsen sparked the burst knocking down her first 3-pointer of the night.
Lee provided a layup late in the half to give Marist an 11-point lead back headed into the half. Both sides committed 10 turnovers apiece in a sloppy first half, but the Red Foxes shot 50% from the field compared to the Bulldogs’s 34.5% , giving Marist a 35-to-24 advantage.
Egger started the Yale comeback to open up the second half with a 10-2 run on her own to pull the Bulldogs within three. Egger hit a mid-range jumper and two 3-pointers to bring her total points to 19 early in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs continued their comeback as freshman guard Ciniya Moore grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a layup while drawing a foul. Moore made the free throw attempt to give Yale the lead 44-43 midway through the third quarter.
Yale and Marist continued to go back and forth in the final minutes of the third. Junior guard Kiley Capstraw put the Bulldogs up one on a driving layup, but Lee answered with another open layup on a pass over the head of the Yale defense from junior forward Ciara Croker.
Croker finished a layup with 14 seconds to go in the quarter, but Egger responded with her third 3-pointer of the quarter to tie it up at 51 a piece.
The Red Foxes applied a full-court press to kick off the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs broke it easily as Moore finished an open layup. Egger and Moore added two more driving layups to complete a 10-2 run at the midway point of the fourth quarter.
Egger maneuvered around Lee for a layup to give the Bulldogs a seven-point lead with just under three minutes to go in the game. With Marist looking dead in the water down five points, Piddock drew an offensive foul with 1:52 to go which led to the Tarul corner three to cut into the Yale lead, making it 65-63.
Marist forced another stop late after the Tarul three and Williamsen appeared to have an open shot from beyond the arc for a chance at the lead, but freshman guard Marisa Chapman recovered nicely to block the shot. The block shot eventually led to a jump ball which kept possession with the Red Foxes.
Yale blocked another three-point attempt on the ensuing possession for Marist, this time Moore denied Piddock. The Red Foxes got the ball to Lee on an inbound play who put up a hook shot in the paint with a chance to tie it, but it rattled around and off the rim and the Bulldogs secured the rebound.
The Bulldogs attempted to waste the clock and wait for Marist to foul with just under 30 seconds to go, but Tarul forced Chapman to step out of bounds to give Marist possession back. The Red Foxes got it back to Lee who kissed a jumper off the glass to tie the game with 14.2 seconds remaining.
Junior guard Kiley Capstraw missed her chance of giving Yale the lead with eight seconds to go and Thybulle picked up her fifth foul going for an offensive rebound over Williamsen. The foul sent Williamsen with a chance to win it at the line, and she knocked down both free throws to put Marist in front 67-65.
Egger gave one final gasp at the horn but came up short on a three-point attempt to seal the victory for Marist. The Red Foxes led by as many as 13 in the second half and trailed 63-55 late in the game, but battled their way to get their record to .500.
Marist will now attempt to debrief before taking on Lehigh in the Lehigh Christmas Classic on Saturday at 12 p.m. EST.
Edited By Dan Aulbach
Graphic from Gavin Hard
Photo by Kira Crutcher