March 7, 2004

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By JOHN WAWROW
AP Sports Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Stephanie Del Preore followed the short shot into her hands and knew it was time to celebrate.

As the buzzer sounded, the Marist senior sparked a celebration after helping lead the Red Foxes to a 76-74 victory over Canisius on Sunday, and clinch the school's first berth in the women's NCAA tournament.

Del Preore led Marist (20-10) with 30 points in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference tournament final. It was fitting the ball landed in the her hands when Canisius guard Becky Zak's off-balance, desperation running jumper fell short from about 12 feet as time ran out.

"I was praying, I was hoping," Del Preore said. "I just caught the ball and didn't know what to do with it. I wanted to find my team and just hug them all. It was a great feeling."

Maureen Magarity added 18 points and Del Preore had 16 rebounds for Marist, the tournament's second seed, which won its fourth straight and eighth of its last nine.

Jenel Stevens scored 24 for fourth-seeded Canisius (19-11), which had won five straight, including Saturday's 81-72 victory over top-seeded Siena.

For Del Preore, the victory and automatic NCAA berth capped a remarkable turnaround for a program that was a perennial loser, going 6-22 four short years ago. And the Red Foxes, coming off last year's 13-16 record, didn't garner much respect when they were selected to finish seventh in the conference preseason poll.

How bad had Marist been? The Red Foxes' appearance in the MAAC final was the school's first, and came after the program had gone 1-6 in tournament play prior to this year.

"We always said we wanted to put Marist on the map. Nobody knew who we were," said Del Preore, named the tournament's most valuable player. "Coming out on top today was the icing on the cake. ... I couldn't ask for a better season, 20-10, going from 6-22 in my freshman year, crazy."

The victory didn't come easily, considering Canisius almost overcame a 13-point second-half deficit.

Stevens scored on a baseline drive to cut Marist's lead to 73-72 with 54 seconds left to cap a 12-4 run. With six seconds to go, Red Foxes guard Nina Vecchio missed one of two free throws to put Marist ahead 76-74.

Zak, who finished 6-of-18 from the field for 14 points, acknowledged she had struggled with her shot all game.

"I took what they gave me," Zak said, describing her last shot. "It was an off-balance shot and it just fell short. I short armed it."

It was a disappointing end for a Golden Griffins program that was also seeking its first NCAA tournament berth.

"Nobody can understand how my teammates and I feel right now," said Stevens, the MAAC women's player of the year. "It's amazing coming this close though, and that's what I'm falling back onto right now. It hurts real deep, but we had a great season."

Despite the close finish, a more-experienced Marist team, which featured five seniors, led from the start, when Kristen Vilardi opened the scoring with a 3-pointer 42 seconds in.

The Red Foxes hit 19-of-37 shots in the first half to open a 45-35 lead, and had enough in them to hold off the Golden Griffins' charge at the end.

"Wow," said Marist coach Brian Giorgis, who is in only his second year on the job. "It's hard to express what I'm feeling right now. When I came here, the only thing we led in was turnovers. And to go from that to sitting up here, it's just incredible."

The 20 wins were the most for Marist since the program went 21-10 in its inaugural season, 1981-82.