Jan. 8, 2007
Final Stats
LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J. - Red-shirt sophomore guard Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) and freshman forward Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio) scored 15 points apiece, and senior point guard Alisa Kresge (Holmdel, N.J.) finished with seven assists to give her 500 in her career, as the Marist women's basketball team earned an 84-59 victory over Rider on Monday.
The point total was the second highest for the Red Foxes, who had 88 against Fordham on Nov. 26, in the 2006-07 season. It was the third this year Marist scored at least 80 points in a game.
The victory was Marist's seventh consecutive one over Rider, and the Red Foxes improved to 10-4 overall and 4-0 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play. Rider fell to 1-14 overall and 0-4 in the MAAC.
As a team, the Red Foxes shot a season-best 57.1 percent (36-for-63) from the field and had a season-high 26 assists. Marist also tied season highs with 36 field goals made and six blocked shots.
Red-shirt junior center Meg Dahlman (Spencerport, N.Y.) finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, a career-high five assists, a season-high three blocked shots and two steals. Junior forward Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio) and junior guard Nikki Flores (Montvale, N.J.) added nine points apiece. Three Red Foxes - Kresge, Dahlman and Viani (who had six) - had at least five assists in the game. Marist also committed just seven turnovers in the game, the sixth time this season the Red Foxes have had fewer than 10 turnovers in a game.
With 10:32 in the first half, a basket by Rider's Melissa Kowalczyk tied the score at 12 apiece. Fitz hit two free throws 16 seconds later, and the Red Foxes led for good after that. The two free throws started Marist on a 10-0 run, and the Red Foxes outscored the Broncs 26-13 over the final 10:16.
Kresge hit a three-pointer 55 seconds into the second half to put the Red Foxes up 16, and Marist never led by less than 15 after that. The Red Foxes' largest lead was 31, which came on a basket by junior guard Alexis Waters (Lansing, Mich.) with 6:27 remaining.
Fitz added seven rebounds to tie Dahlman for the team high, and shot 6-for-9 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. It was the 13th time this season Fitz scored at least 10 points in a game, and the ninth time she had at least a share of the team lead in scoring this season. The Red Foxes are 9-0 in those games.
Kresge added five points and five rebounds in the game. She now has 26 assists and two turnovers in her last four games. The only other Marist player to amass 500 assists in her career is Nina Vecchio, who had 563.
Rider was led in scoring by Kelli Sawyer, who came off the bench to tally 23 points. Sawyer shot 8-for-15 from the field, 3-for-7 from three-point range and 4-for-8 from the free-throw line. Sawyer, an LIU transfer, also led the Broncs in rebounds with six and steals with two. No other Rider player had more than eight points.
Marist held Rider to 39.7 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers. Marist outrebounded Rider by a 38-33 margin.
The Red Foxes return to action in western New York this weekend, as Marist will play at Canisius at noon on Friday and at Niagara at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
