March 5, 2004
Box Score
Albany, NY - The Marist College women's basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament this afternoon, with a 60-49 victory over Manhattan in the quarterfinals. With the win, the Red Foxes improve to 18-10 on the year, while the Jaspers dropped to 11-18 in their season finale.
Marist took a 30-26 halftime lead, despite being out rebounded 19-14 in the first half and being out shot. The Jaspers shot 41.7 percent in the first half, while Marist shot 35.7 percent, but forced 11 Jasper turnovers, while committing just four.
The second half was all Marist, as the Red Foxes, the number two-seed in the tournament, shot 60 percent (12-20) from the field. The Red Foxes scored the first four points of the second half and out scored the Jaspers 13-4 over the first 8:01 of the half. The Jaspers cut the deficit to 10 points, 43-33 with 10:42 remaining in the game, but the Red Foxes answered with a 6-0 run of their own, taking a 49-33 edge with 9:00 to play.
Manhattan got as close as it would with 4:17 to play, as they got to within 52-41. Nina Vecchio hit a lay-up with 3:29 to play, and Stephanie Del Preore followed to give the Red Foxes a 15 points edge. Kristen Vilardi hit a pair to take a 59-41 edge, with 1:48 to play. Vilardi hit one more free throw with 73 seconds to play to secure the win.
Maureen Magarity and Del Preore led the Red Foxes scoring effort with 13 points a piece, both hitting six field goals. Kristin Keller came off of the bench to add 11 points for Marist in 20 minutes of play.
The Red foxes shot 45.8 percent, 22-48, from the field for the game, and went 4-11 from three-point land. Manhattan shot 34.6 percent (18-52) for the game, with the Red Foxes holding the Jaspers to 28.6 percent from the field in the second half of play.
Vecchio had a game-high seven assists for the Red Foxes, as well as scoring five points. Vilardi tallied nine points, 2-3 from behind the line, as well as pulling in three boards and finishing with two steals and two assists.
The Red Foxes had 17 steals, while helping to force 18 Jasper turnovers. Manhattan out rebounded the Red Foxes 35-32 for the game, and 11-4 on the offensive boards.
The Red Foxes advance to the MAAC Tournament semifinal for the first time since joining the league for the 1997-98 season. Marist will take on the winner of the afternoon's quarterfinal game between the number three-seed Niagara and fifth-seeded Saint Peter's.
