The Marist women’s basketball team returned to their winning ways on Dec. 22, defeating Albany 75-71 at SEFCU Arena. Sophomore forward Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio) led all players with 28 points, tying a career high. She was 10-10 from the free-throw line and also had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Junior guard Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie) scored a season-high 21 points, going 8-for-9 at the charity stripe. Nikki Flores (Montvale, N.J.) also scored in double figures for Marist, tallying 16 points and pulling down five boards.
The Red Foxes and Great Danes kept it close in the first half. Marist took control off the tap, scoring the first five points and taking an early 10-5 lead. Albany got to within one, 12-11, on a Kristin Higy three-pointer with 16:36 to go in the half. Fitz scored Marist’s next seven points to put the Red Foxes ahead 20-13. The Great Danes would go on the first big run of the day, scoring 13 of the next 15 points to take a 26-22 lead. Marist answered back, though, with a Viani triple and a Fitz basket to take the lead, 27-26, with 8:52 to go in the half. Albany then took control, with a Janea Aiken basket giving them a 34-29 lead. Once again, a Viani three-pointer sparked a comeback, as that coupled with a Flores jumper tied the game at 34-34. The game was tied again at 37-37 with 1:07 to go as Albany’s Tanika Thrower fouled Viani on a three-point shot. The junior guard drained all three free throws to give Marist a 40-37 halftime lead.
The Red Foxes opened the second half on a 10-4 run, capped off by a Fitz basket, to give the visitors a 50-43 lead. The lead grew to 12 on a four-point play by Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio), putting Marist ahead 58-46 with 11:03 to go. Albany chipped away at the Marist lead as a Britney McGee three capped a 9-2 Great Danes’ run and put Albany within three, 60-57. After a pair of Fitz free-throws gave Marist a 68-63 lead with 4:45 to go, Albany got to within one behind two free throws from McGee and a Gia Sanders jumper to make the score 68-67 with 1:16 to go. That would be as close as the Great Danes would get, as Flores and Viani scored the last seven points for the Red Foxes to give them a 75-71 win.
Marist (11-2) shot 38.9 percent from the field and made a season-high 28 free throws. The Red Foxes held a 36-34 rebounding edge and forced 14 Albany turnovers. The Great Danes shot 49.2 percent from the field, but only went 5-for-12 from the free throw line.
Albany (1-11) was led by McGee’s 17 points, with Sanders, Thrower and Sherri Mikus each adding 10 points. Mikus and Joy Sterling each had seven rebounds to lead the Great Danes.
Marist returns to action on Sunday, Dec. 30 with a 2 p.m. game at Akron.
Men lose second straight
The Marist men’s basketball team suffered its second straight loss on Dec. 22, a 76-67 defeat at Niagara in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference contest. Red-shirt senior Ryan Stilphen (Bay Village, Ohio) had his second double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Senior Ben Farmer (Clinton, Conn.) led the Red Foxes with 13 points.
With 4:15 remaining in the first half, a basket by Niagara’s Charron Fisher gave the Purple Eagles their largest lead of the game to that point, a 29-20 advantage. From there, the Red Foxes closed the first half on a 15-0 run to take a 35-29 lead into the intermission.
A tip-in by Stilphen with 16:51 remaining gave Marist its largest lead of the contest, 43-31. The Red Foxes still had a 10-point advantage at 50-40 with 13:02 left, but Marist scored just two points over the next 7:40. A three-pointer by Fisher gave Niagara a 55-52 lead with 5:39 remaining, and the Purple Eagles led for the rest of the contest, and the Red Foxes never cut the margin under three after that. Niagara sealed the game at the free-throw line, going 12-for-14 at the line in the final 1:10.
Marist finished with four scorers in double digits. In addition to Stilphen and Farmer, red-shirt senior Louie McCroskey (Bronx) and red-shirt sophomore David Devezin (Houston, Texas) scored 11 apiece. Senior Spongy Benjamin (St. Francis Village Erin, Trinidad) grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds, but did not score.
Fisher led all scorers with 27, with 20 of them coming in the second half. He also had 12 rebounds, three blocks and two steals while playing all 40 minutes. Fisher, who entered the game among the nation’s leading scorers at 27.4 points per game, shot 7-for-18 from the field, 2-for-5 from three-point range and 11-for-14 from the free-throw line. Niagara also received 20 points and six rebounds from Stanley Hodge, and an 11-point, seven-rebound, five-assist effort from Anthony Nelson.
Marist shot .381 from the field, going 11-for-34 (.324) in the second half after shooting 13-for-29 (.448) in the first half. Niagara held a 45-43 rebounding edge, marking just the second time this season that the Red Foxes have been out-rebounded in a game.
Marist fell to 6-5 overall and 1-1 in the MAAC. Niagara improved to 6-3 overall and 2-0 in the MAAC.
The Red Foxes will return to action at the Aeropostale Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden this weekend. In first-round action on Dec. 28, Marist will play host St. John’s at 8:30 p.m. The Red Foxes will face either Hofstra or Virginia Tech on Dec. 29.