For the fourth time this season, the Marist women’s basketball team held an opponent to 30 percent shooting from the field, holding Fairfield to 30 percent from the field in a 55-44 win on Dec. 9. Sophomore forward Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio) led the Red Foxes with 18 points, making 7 of 10 shots from the field.
Nikki Flores (Montvale, N.J.) had 14 points on the day, making 5 of11 shots and grabbing six rebounds. Meg Dahlman (Spencerport) and Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie) each scored eight points for Marist, with Dahlman adding six boards.
Fitz and Fairfield’s Sabra Wrice traded baskets to start the game. A Wrice three-pointer gave the Stags an early 7-6 lead. The Red Foxes would go on an 8-1 run over the next 5:24, keyed by three-pointers from Flores and Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio) to take a 14-8 lead. Fairfield got as close as four in the half, but Marist would get the lead up to 10, 24-14, with 3:52 to go in the half on a pair of free throws by Élise Caron (Quebec, Canada). The Red Foxes finished the first half ahead 26-18.
Flores and Fitz continued their strong play in the second half. Fitz scored the first six for Marist, with Flores scoring the next five, including a three-point play, to put the Red Foxes ahead 37-26 with 13:19 to go. The lead would get to its largest with 6:50 to go, as Viani set up a Fitz basket to put Marist ahead 48-34. The Stags got within eight, 50-42, on a Baendu Lowenthal jumper with 2:30 to go. Viani answered that basket with five straight points, including a three-pointer, to put Marist ahead 55-42 with 59 seconds to go.
Marist (10-1, 2-0 MAAC) shot 45.5 percent from the field and 84.6 percent from the free-throw line. They also committed only 11 turnovers, forcing 13 Stags turnovers. Fairfield held the rebounding edge, 42-25, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.
Fairfield (6-3, 0-2 MAAC) was led by Sabra Wrice’s 18 points. Baendu Lowenthal added 11 points, all coming in the second half. Stephanie Geehan led all players with 12 rebounds.
Men fall to UMass
The Marist men’s basketball team had its five-game winning streak snapped on Dec. 8, as the Red Foxes suffered an 83-68 defeat to UMass at Mohegan Sun Arena. Red-shirt senior guard Louie McCroskey (Bronx) led Marist (6-4) with 22 points, 11 rebounds and four steals.
A basket by Marist senior center Spongy Benjamin (St. Francis Village Erin, Trinidad) gave the Red Foxes their largest lead of the game, a 58-52 advantage with 8:19 remaining. From that point forward, the Minutemen closed the game on a 31-10 run.
The game featured 11 lead changes and 10 ties.
Freshman guard Jay Gavin (Seat Pleasant, Md.) had 12 points for the Red Foxes, and red-shirt senior forward Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) added 10. Red-shirt sophomore point guard David Devezin (Houston, Texas) had nine points and seven assists.
For UMass, Chris Lowe finished with a game-high 23 points and six assists. Gary Forbes had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Ricky Harris tallied 18 points and four steals.
UMass (6-2) had just 11 turnovers in the game, and the Red Foxes committed 22. UMass shot 23-for-37 from the free-throw line, and had 27 attempts in the second half. The Red Foxes were just 8-for-18 from the line.
Marist will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 22 with a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference contest at Niagara. Tip-off is slated for 1 p.m.
Track women off to good start
The Marist women’s track team opened the 2007-08 indoor season at Fordham University’s Lombardi Gymnasium’s track with several good performances. Sophomore Brittany Burns (Watertown) opened the meet by running her first-ever track 5K, finishing second by two seconds in a time of 18:47.8. Fellow distance runner and senior captain Caitlin Garrity (Watertown, Conn.) wrapped up the evening for the women by winning the 3K by over 10 seconds in 10:53.2.
In between those efforts, Lisa D’Aniello (Niskayuna) placed a strong second in the mile with a 5:13.9 effort; sophomore Holly Burns (Stafford Springs, Conn.) placed third in the 400 and second in the 200 with times of 60.1 and 26.9 and senior captain Chris Wahl (Lancaster), in a tightly contested 800, placed third in 2:20.3.
The Red Foxes next compete at the Fordham Invitational at the New Balance Armory on Friday, Jan. 11, 2008.
Womens results
5K: 2. Brittany Burns , 18:47.8.
3K: 1. Caitlin Garrity, 10:53.2.
Mile: 2. Lisa D’Aniello, 5:13.9, 9 .Colleen Ryan, 5:51.6.
800: 3. Chris Wahl, 2:20.3; 4. Sarah Keating, 2:26.8; 5. Lindsay Moreau, 2:26.9; 8. Christina Burke, 2:29.8.
400: 3. Holly Burns, 60.1; Hayley Harnett, 62.1.
200: 2. Holly Burns, 26.9; Kim Ladouceur, 27.9; Lindsay Kelly, 28.3; Kerry Owen, 28.7.
60: Lindsay Kelly, 8.3.
Men compete at Fordham
Sophomore Max Carow (Fanwood, N.J.) and freshman John Carabetta (Park Ridge, N.J.) each earned second-place finishes as the Marist College men’s track team opened its indoor season by bringing a partial squad to the Fordham University Season Opener, held Dec. 7 at the Vincent T. Lombardi Center Fieldhouse.
Carow, who set the school record in the pole vault last winter at the Metropolitan Championships with a leap of 4.05 meters, placed second with a solid, early-season jump of 12 feet, 6 inches. Carabetta, making his collegiate debut, was second in the 400-meter dash in 52.3 seconds.
The men’s track team returns to action on Friday, Jan. 11, at the Fordham Invitational at the New Balance Armory.