Jan. 17, 2004
Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY- The Marist College (8-6, 4-1 MAAC) women's basketball team improved to 7-1 at home with a thrilling 62-57 victory over Iona tonight at the McCann Center. With the loss, the Gaels fall to 3-11, 2-4 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Junior Kristin Keller hit four free throws in the last three seconds of the game to seal the victory for the Red Foxes. Keller finished the night with a career-high 18 points on 5-7 shooting from the floor and a perfect 8-8 from the charity stripe.
Iona began chipping away at 10-point Marist lead with 3:41 remaining, going on a 12-3 run. The Gaels' Jamie Donnelly made the score 58-57 in favor of Marist at the five-second mark. As the Marist was inbounding the ball, Meghan Wicks came up with the steal but was called for a traveling violation with three seconds to go. As Iona disputed the call, senior Trinette Gooding picked up the technical foul setting up Keller's free throw attempts.
After a shaky first half in which they headed into the break clinging to a 21-17 lead, Marist turned it around offensively shooting 51.9 percent from the floor in the second half. Junior Megan Vetter sparked the Red Foxes late in the second half by hitting a three-pointer with at the 5:10 mark. Freshman Alisa Kresge increased the lead to 55-45 on a drive less than two minutes later. Vetter finished the night with a season-high 10 points, including seven in the final period, while Kresge chipped in with five points and four rebounds.
Junior Laura Whitney added 13 points, while senior Stephanie Del Preore finished with 10 points and a team-high nine boards.
For Iona, four Gaels were in double-digits with Regan Pettijohn leading the way with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The Red Foxes' bench was crucial down the stretch, outscoring Iona 41-6. Marist was also able to convert 24 points off of 24 turnovers by the Gaels.
Marist, who was participating in the MAAC Fights Back Against Breast Cancer program, was able to raise $654 for breast cancer research from donations and a raffle from tonight's game.
The Red Foxes return to action on Monday, January 19th as they face conference rival Siena at 1:00pm at the Pepsi Arena.
