Nov. 22, 2006

Final Stats |  Quotes

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Marist women's basketball team returned to its winning ways on Wednesday in convincing fashion, earning a 77-41 triumph over Dartmouth at the McCann Center. The 36 points represented the largest margin of victory for the Red Foxes in Brian Giorgis' five years as head coach. Freshman forward Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio) led all scorers with 16 points.

The Red Foxes improved to 2-2. They had dropped their two previous games to Duke and Villanova, both on the road. Marist has now won 13 consecutive games at the McCann Center, dating back to last season.

For the game, Fitz shot 6-for-7 from the field and 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. She also had the first three blocked shots of her career. In her two games at the McCann Center this year, Fitz is 12-for-13 from the field and 9-for-9 from the line.

Eleven different players scored for the Red Foxes, as red-shirt junior center Meg Dahlman (Spencerport, N.Y.) added 12 to go along with a team-high seven rebounds. Junior guard Courtney Kolesar (Concord, Ohio) had nine, as she drilled all three of her three-point attempts. Junior forward Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio) and freshman guard Brittany Engle (South Easton, Mass.) added eight apiece. For Engle, not only was the eight points a career high, but she was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field. Marist also received 46 points from its bench, and turned the ball over a season-low five times.

Fitz's first basket of the game came with 14:10 left in the first half. From that point until halftime, the Red Foxes outscored the Big Green by a margin of 39-11, with Fitz scoring 14 in that span. Marist led by as much as 40 in the second half.

Ashley Taylor led Dartmouth (0-3) with 14 points. Ten of her points came in the second half, and she finished 10-for-12 from the free-throw line. The Big Green's Fatima Kamara tied Dahlman for the game high with seven rebounds.

Dartmouth shot 23.5 percent (12-for-51) from the field. That was the lowest percentage an opponent shot against the Red Foxes since New Hampshire shot 19.3 percent on Nov. 29, 2004. It also marked the 28th time in the last three seasons that Marist held an opponent to 50 points or less.

Marist will be back at the McCann Center for its next contest, a 2 p.m. game against Fordham on Sunday. The game will be the first between the Red Foxes and the Rams since the 2000-01 season. Tickets are on sale now at GoRedFoxes.com, the McCann Center ticket office and by phone at (845) 575-3553.