The Red Foxes played back-to-back games this past weekend, dropping the first contest to Lehigh 56-39 but winning the second game against North Dakota 60-56.
Marist 39 Lehigh 56
Marist struggled to stop the Mountain Hawks in the first quarter of game one. After freshman guard Danielle Williamsen drilled a shot from beyond the arc to open the game, the Mountain Hawks went on a 12-0 run led by five points from junior forward Lily Fandre.
The Red Foxes were able to claw back into it and cut the deficit to five early in the second quarter but failed to fully capitalize on a poor shooting effort from Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks shot just 26% from the field while going 1-of-8 from beyond the arc in the quarter, but Marist shot 0-of-5 from downtown to find themselves trailing 30-19 at halftime.
Lehigh got back to their strong shooting efforts from downtown in the third quarter, delivering four three-pointers in a 14-6 run. Fandre once again gave the Mountain Hawks five of her 14 points in the frame which found Lehigh up 16 heading into the final frame.
Marist had an opportunity to get back into it early in the fourth quarter as the Mountain Hawks did not score until the 5:50 mark, but they could not knock down enough shots in that stretch to make it interesting. Senior guard Ella Stemmer provided back-to-back layups for Lehigh and they eventually cruised their way to the 17-point victory.
The Red Foxes committed five turnovers in each quarter for a total of 20 in the game. Marist had no players in double figures with junior center Morgan Lee leading the way with nine points. The team attempted 14 3-pointers, making only three of them.
Marist 60 North Dakota 56
The Red Foxes flipped the script 24 hours later, opening up the game on an 8-2 run on the back of redshirt junior Lexie Tarul. Tarul provided six of her team-high 19 points in the stretch.
Marist cooled off after junior center Morgan Lee drained one from beyond the arc to make it 11-4. The Red Foxes and Fighting Hawks battled for the rest of the first quarter, with Marist leading 16-11 at the end of one.
Each side struggled offensively early in the second quarter with just four points collectively scored in the first five minutes. Those struggles completely departed after a layup from freshman Williamsen at the 4:17 mark.
Marist and North Dakota combined for 18 of the 24 points scored in the quarter in this span, with Williamsen knocking down a jumper with 26 seconds remaining. The freshman provided six of her 10 points in the second quarter to give the Red Foxes a 30-21 lead at the half.
Marist looked to keep it going with a 10-0 kill shot midway through the third quarter. Tarul and junior forward Ciara Croker posted all 10 points in the run (five points each) to see the Red Foxes’ lead reach 15.
The Fighting Hawks started to come back late in the third and early in the fourth, as junior center Walker Demers converted at the free-throw line to bring the Marist lead down to nine. Demers shot 1-of-10 from the field but made 9-for-12 free throws totaling 11 points on the day.
Tarul tried to slow North Dakota down with a jumper, but freshman guard Jocelyn Schiller responded with two and-one buckets to make it 48-44. Tarul provided her final two 3-pointers to bring the Marist lead back to eight, but Schiller answered again with a 3-pointer of her own with just under two minutes to go. Schiller scored 10 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter.
The Fighting Hawks made three free throws after a couple of empty trips by the Red Foxes to make it 56-54 with 47 seconds remaining.
Marist made a substitution after the second free throw from North Dakota, bringing in sophomore guard Malea Egan. On the ensuing possession for the Red Foxes with the shot clock winding down, Egan drove to the basket for a tough layup to make it a four-point advantage for the Red Foxes.
Sophomore forward Kiera Pemberton quickly raced down the court and hit a jumper to make it 58-56 with seven seconds to go. The Fighting Hawks fouled Williamsen with four seconds remaining to try to give them any kind of chance but Williamsen knocked down both free throws to ice the game.
The Red Foxes shot 8-of-32 from beyond the arc—with Tarul draining half of those—while making 16-of-19 from the free-throw line.
Marist will take their victory to their next contest at Bryant on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Victoria Guardino
Photo from Jaylen Rizzo
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