Returning home after three away games in Connecticut, the Red Foxes grabbed a much-needed win over the Siena Saints.
Freshman guard Francesca Schiro did not make it easy in the Red Foxes’ slim 75-72 win at home, but redshirt-senior guard Lexie Tarul took over the game for Marist. From collecting rebounds, finding space and heading the scoring charge. Schiro entered the Thursday night matchup averaging 16.1 points per game, earning her the title of MAAC Rookie of the Week four times thus far this season.
With the score tied at 37 after the first half, Schiro accounted for half of her team’s points, closing the first 20 minutes with 19 points and eight rebounds, shooting 7-for-12 from the field and a near-perfect 3-for-4 from beyond the arc. She broke her career high of 3-pointers made, which was previously set in last week’s win against Saint Peter’s.
The freshman phenom ended the game without a minute of rest, and at the top of the Siena stat sheet with 26 points and nine rebounds.
“I thought our defensive gameplan worked really well. Shiro, who is a tough kid and the clear favorite to win Rookie of the Year, has had some really big games and tonight is just another one of those,” said head coach Erin Doughty.
Marist, being a 3-point dependent team, looked to work on the outside on the offensive end, while pushing the Saints out of their comfort zone on defense, shutting down the inside lanes. In the MAAC, Marist sits third in the team 3-point percentage, while Siena rounds out the league with the lowest team 3-point percentage.
“There are ball screens everywhere and handoffs everywhere, and you aren’t really sure when it’s coming or where it is coming from. We went into the game switching on a lot of things, and I think it was really effective,” said head coach Erin Doughty.
As Shiro took over for the Saints, Tarul locked down her home court. In her impressive last season for Marist, Tarul creates impacts whether the ball is in her hand or not. Tarul also set new career highs of her own, with a double-double and a career best of 12 rebounds.
“Lexie [Tarul] is an unbelievable player,” said senior guard Jackie Piddock. “She makes huge plays all the time; she is that kind of player. She shows up when we need her the most.”
Three players recorded double-digits for Marist, with the Red Foxes’ bench outscoring Siena’s by ten. Piddock had eight assists on the night with 10 points, always managing to find an open teammate.
“When our offense is clicking, we are getting contributions from multiple people and our guards are all hitting shots, we can be a really good offensive team too,” said Doughty. “They were sharing the ball really well, and it was zipping around, going from someone who had a good shot to someone who had an even better shot. That is where we are trying to get to, where they trust their teammates so much that they are going to pass the ball and know it is going to go in half the time.”
After a relatively slow start to the season, sophomore guard Danielle Williamsen has broken through the off-season rust for the Red Foxes. After ending her freshman campaign with a season-high 22 points against Mount St. Mary’s at the MAAC tournament, Williamsen has finally found her groove in conference play.
The sophomore guard recorded double-digit outings in five of her last six games with the Red Foxes. Williamsen recorded a season-high against Rider on Jan. 10, knocking in 20 points and adding 10 assists for her first double-double of the season.
“She starts the game with that fire that we saw from Dani [Williamsen] at the end of last year,” said Doughty. She and I talked before the game against Fairfield last week, and I just said, ‘You know you don’t have to score a point to show your fire and your passion. It can come out when your teammate gets a deflection or play, or when we get a big stop, your team feeds off of that.’ She has been more aggressive, she has been shooting, but she has also been playing with that fire and competitive drive.”
Williamsen ended the full team win with 12 points, three steals, three assists and four rebounds.
Marist will hit the road again on Saturday to play the Iona Gaels in New Rochelle in a Saturday midday MAAC matchup at 1 p.m.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Graphic by Cara Lacey
Photo by Quinn DiFiore
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