Jan. 5, 2005

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, PA-Marist sophomore Alisa Kresge (Holmdel, NJ) drained a three from the left baseline with just three seconds left in regulation to put Marist up for good in its 55-53 win over Lehigh tonight. With the win, the Foxes improved to 6-5 overall while the Mountain Hawks fell to 8-4. Marist closed out its non-conference season with a record of 6-3, the first winning non-league mark in four years.

Kresge got the scoring started for Marist with a jumper off a feed from Kristen Vilardi (Fishkill, NY), who got a layup of her own on the next possession. Jenny Callan put Lehigh on the board at the 16:40 mark but Vilardi answered with a three to put Marist up 8-2. Eight straight points including back-to-back threes by senior Megan Vetter (Havertown, PA) gave the Red Foxes an 18-7 lead, forcing Lehigh to call a timeout.

Following the break, Lehigh's Jessica DePalo scored 10 consecutive points in a 14-2 Mountain Hawk run and a 21-20 lead. The teams traded buckets for the closing minutes and a Laura Whitney (Southampton, PA) bucket put Marist up 28-23 at the half. Lehigh shot a solid 50% from the floor in the half but Marist drained 43% of its own shots to combat that number.

Marist opened the second half on a 7-0 run including four points from senior captain Kristin Keller (Poughkeepsie, NY), forcing Lehigh to take a timeout just three minutes into the half. Claire Sullivan then drained a three for the Mountain Hawks, but Marist's Fifi Camara (Conakry, Guinea) had five straight points to pull Marist ahead 40-30 with 15:18 remaining. Lehigh's Sara Ellis hit back-to-back shots from behind the arc, but Kresge answered with her first three of the night off a feed from Keller. At 12:17, Marist's Stephanie Youdath (Mentor, OH) hit a layup to put Marist up 45-40.

Less than two minutes later, Kresge grabbed a rebound off a DePalo miss and collided with teammate Camara as they came down. Both players would leave the game but Camara soon returned while Kresge did not. Meanwhile, neither team scored for five straight minutes until Sullivan broke the drought with a three at 7:06. The slow offense would continue but Keller tied the game at 48-48 at 3:52. Following the under-four minute media timeout, Kresge returned to the game to run the point in the critical closing minutes for Marist.

Ellis put Lehigh up 53-50 with exactly one minute remaining but Camara responded with a layup of her own to pull the Foxes within one. Marist regained possession after a Keller board and took the ball out of bounds with just nine seconds left in regulation. When Marist's set play didn't pan out, Megan Vetter found Kresge in three point range where she drained a trey to five Marist the 55-53 lead and win with three seconds left.

Kresge finished the night with a career-high eight points, having tied her previous high of seven points four different times. She also added seven rebounds, four assists and a steal. Vetter led all Marist players with 15 points and chipped in three assists, all in the vital last four minutes. Camara finished with 14 points while classmate Vilardi tallied five points, four assists and a season-high three steals. Keller led all rebounders with 10 caroms. Lehigh's DePalo was the game's high scorer with 16 points and Ellis recorded 13 points including three treys.