The Marist Red Foxes (10-15, 7-8 MAAC) defense stopped the Saint Peters Peacocks (6-16, 5-9 MAAC) on the final two possessions of the game, including a contest sealing block from sophomore guard Chloe Escanillas leading to a crucial 56-53 win for the Red Foxes.
Saint Peters outrebounded Marist 42-27 and had 15 offensive rebounds allowing them to keep the game close all afternoon.
“Offensive rebounding is a weakness for us and something that teams have done to us before,” said head coach Erin Doughty.
The Red Foxes were led by freshmen forward Justine Henry. Her 21 points and 10 rebounds proved to be the difference in the Marist win.
The Peacocks got on the board early with a quick seven point burst from redshirt sophomore guard Nikola Zdenkova, while the Red Foxes leaned on Henry.
Henry had four quick points, both baskets coming on baseline fadeaways. Henry also found redshirt senior guard Lexie Tarul for her first three pointer of the afternoon. Early on the Red Foxes lack of rebounding led to extra opportunities for Saint Peters.
The Peacocks outrebounded Marist by six in the first quarter giving them a one point lead. Henry kept her hot start going as she picked a loose ball and buried a three pointer giving the Red Foxes their first lead 12-10.
Out of the media timeout Saint Peters switched into a 2-3 zone and they forced two straight turnovers; the second one led to a transition three pointer for graduate student forward Laila Grant. Saint Peters kept knocking down their shots from behind the three point line. Freshman guard Jayshlynn Vega stepped back and cashed in on a three, then Tarul answered right back with a mid range jumper to end the first quarter.
In the first three minutes of the second quarter both offenses were sloppy and couldn’t find the back of the net. Finally the Peacocks converted, freshman forward De’Naya Rippey attacked with her left hand and put in an easy layup.
The Red Foxes were able to break down the Peacocks 2-3 zone with some three pointers gaining a 24-23 advantage. Marist put in two three pointers one from Henry and another by Escanillas from the corner.
“They were deceptive in the zone, so we had to be on top of what they were doing each possession,” said Doughty.
Rippey continued to attack with her left hand finishing over Henry to cut the lead down to one. The Red Foxes kept on finding open looks from three with their ball movement and Escanillas gave her squad a 30-25 lead. Marist held Saint Peters to eight points in the second quarter, finished off with a block from Tarul to keep the Red Foxes lead at five.
Henry started the second half just like she started the first pulling up from just inside the top of the key for two. Doughty decided to move into a press to help continue to slow down the Peacock offense. Marist forced three turnovers on Saint Peter’s next four possessions and they snagged their five point lead back with a corner three from Tarul.
After a few sloppy possessions Saint Peters started breaking the press with ease. They cut the lead down to 37-35 with a three from junior guard Louella Allana and a driving layup by senior forward Layla Laws.
The Peacocks switched back to a man-man defense and the Red Foxes had no answer. Saint Peters took their first lead since the first quarter at 42-40 as Vega connected from long range off a screen from sophomore center Carys Roy.
Saint Peters didn’t hold the lead for long. Senior forward Ciara Crocker turned and threw a quick pass to junior guard Julia Corsentino who buried the three pointer giving Marist a 43-42 lead to end the third quarter.
Out of the break The Peacocks took the lead right back. Laws made a great pump fake and got to the rim for an easy two. Sophomore guard Kacey Bretones answered with a great fake off her own leading to a left handed layup.
Saint Peters then flipped the switch going on a 5-0 run, ending with a mid range jumper from Zdenkova forcing a Red Fox timeout.
Out of the timeout Marist went to Henry but the Peacocks were ready, throwing a double team at her.Through the corner of her eye she saw Tarul cutting and dished it to her for an easy layup. The next possession Henry gave Marist the lead 49-48 with a wide open mid range jumper.
“I work on those shots a lot, the mid range has been my game thus far,” said Henry.
With under 2 minutes to go the Red Foxes rebounding problems came back to bite them. After five straight offensive rebounds, Zdenkova knocked in a three pointer to give Saint Peters a 53-51 lead. Henry got the crowd back on its feet, tying the game at 53 with two free throws with under a minute to go.
Marist had the ball with 50 seconds left and after a long possession Piddock found Tarul in the low post forcing a Peacock foul. Tarul went one for two from the charity stripe giving Saint Peters an opportunity to win the game with 30 seconds left.
Rippey got by the first defender Piddock but as she went for the layup Crocker contested the shot forcing a miss and giving Marist the ball with under ten seconds left.
Doughty decided to put the ball in her veteran’s hand Piddock. She calmly stepped to the line and buried two free throws giving Marist a 59-56 lead.
“I told her [Jackie] we’ve been in this situation and you’ve done it. Just hit two and we will be good,” said Henry.
Marist sealed the game with another clutch defensive possession as the Peacocks could not get a good look after a block from Escanillas.
With the win the Red Foxes moved up to eighth place in the MAAC standings. Next up they’ll host Merrimack on Thursday Feb 12 tipoff is set for 6pm.
Edited by Hayden Shapiro
Photo by Xavier Angel
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