Marist women’s basketball failed to carry their lead to the end against Merrimack (7-7, 4-1 MAAC) in a back-and-forth overtime MAAC battle, falling 59-57. This loss, the Red Foxes’ (5-10, 2-3 MAAC) first of the calendar year, lowers them under .500 in conference play as the season heats up.
Redshirt senior guard Lexie Tarul nearly nailed a 30-foot game-winning three in overtime, but time had expired just before the ball had left her hands.
Junior forward Madison Roman had a very strong game in the paint for the Warriors, scoring 14 points and snagging 13 rebounds. Junior guard Paloma Garcia accompanied Roman at the top of Merrimack’s stat page with 12 points on 5-19 shooting and eight boards before ultimately fouling out.
Senior guard Jackie Piddock led Marist in scoring with 17, including a remarkably perfect 10-10 from the charity stripe. Piddock added four rebounds and five assists to her statsheet on the way to the win. Tarul played strongly as well, putting up 11 points and eight rebounds with a five-for-six tally from the line.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well, especially in the first half, where the two sides combined for 2-18 from beyond the arc, both made by Marist, while the Red Foxes went an abysmal 9-32 from the field.
Marist started strong, jumping out to a 7-2 lead and finishing the quarter up 13-8. The Warriors got back into the game briefly as they held Marist to 1-7 from the field over a three-minute stretch, but ultimately did not lead until midway through the second quarter.
The offense for the Red Foxes was stifled a bit, but it was both sides’ fault. Merrimack drew a charge and forced tough passes while Marist continued to force the ball to the baseline and got repeatedly stranded without options.
Things changed in the second as Erin Doughty’s side fed junior center Karly Fischer, who opened the scoring in the second quarter with back-to-back buckets in the paint.
Merrimack then jumped out to a 9-0 run very quickly and took its first lead of the game, going up 21-17 after being down by five points just a few moments earlier.
The Warriors, who are 2-0 all-time against Marist, having just joined the MAAC in 2024, traded punches with their guests before sophomore guard Danielle Williamsen nailed a three, her first of the game, as time expired in the half; that three put Marist up 26-25 to end the first 20 minutes.
Both teams started the second half essentially in the locker room; The first field goal did not come until Williamsen made a layup to put her side up 29-25. Merrimack went nearly all of the first five minutes, a full quarter of the second half, without scoring while Marist held on to a 10-0 run.
Senior guard Lydia Melaschenko sank a reverse layup to end the quarter with Merrimack down four. That layup accounted for two of her eight points on the night. The teams stayed neck-and-neck in the first part of the fourth quarter as Merrimack came out up 8-6 in the quarter while Marist led 44-42.
Graduate student forward Oralye Kiefer and Roman each converted massive and-one opportunities as the Warriors battled back into the lead, going up 49-50.
Freshman forward Justine Henry nailed a three for Marist to go up two, but after the hosts leveled, the two sides went to overtime. Both teams started the five-minute overtime period on ice, with Merrimack starting one for six from the field, along with the Red Foxes’ one for five.
Graduate student guard Molly Manion nailed a three, her first of the night, with 44 seconds left to knot the game at 57 apiece and force Doughty into a timeout. That three was just the fourth of the game for Merrimack, who continued a poor season of three-point shooting into this one by going four of 19 from deep.
Marist came out of the huddle and drew up a play for Piddock, who missed her second left-handed layup of the game in the clutch. Senior guard Se’Lah Reddick grabbed the defensive rebound after altering the shot and enabled head coach Kelly Morrone to call her side’s last timeout.
Reddick got the ball out of the timeout and took advantage and using an acrobatic spin move to put Merrimack up with under a second left. Marist called a timeout to advance the ball, then another after Piddock was nearly unable to inbound the ball.
A second huddle resulted in Tarul getting the ball in space, but taking a dribble ended up costing her too much time as the game ended before she could get the shot off, a prayer from well beyond the arc that ended up in the net. The officials reviewed it after, but clear video evidence gave the Warriors their fourth win in a row.
Marist travels back to Poughkeepsie for their next game on Saturday against Rider and will look to get to .500 at home. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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