Nov. 22, 2007
Final Stats
HONOLULU, HAWAII - Behind 26 points and 10 rebounds from Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio), the Marist women's basketball team defeated Utah 70-66 in overtime in their first game of the Oahu Classic to move to 4-1 on the season.
Freshman Erica Allenspach (Miamisburg, Ohio) set a new career-high with 13 points, with Elise Caron (Quebec, Canada) and Meg Dahlman (Spencerport, N.Y.) adding eight points each. Dahlman also had nine rebounds.
The two teams traded baskets early, tying the game at 9-9. Utah would make the first big run of the game, going on an 11-0 run to take a 20-9 lead with 12:08 to go in the first half, the Utes' largest lead of the game. Marist would make a run, scoring 10 of the next 12 points over the next 3:47 to get within three at 22-19 with Allenspach and Caron combining for seven of those points. The Utes would get the lead back up to seven on a jumper by Morgan Warburton to make the score 28-21 before the RedFoxes would make one more push to end the half. Behind five points from Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio), the Red Foxes would cut Utah's lead to four, 30-26, to end the half.
Utah would take control of the second half from the opening whistle, going on an 8-2 run to take a 38-28 lead 3:36 into the half, prompting a Brian Giorgis timeout. Marist would chip away at the Utes' lead with solid free-throw shooting and timely layups from Dahlman and Fitz. With 6:59 to go and Marist down six, Caron got a steal off of an errant pass by Utah's Halie Sawyer and turned it into a three-pointer to make the score 51-48. Marist would get within three two more times before they made their last run in regulation.
After Leilani Mitchell hit a layup to put Utah up six, 59-53, with 3:37 to go, Dahlman would score on back-to-back possessions to get the Red Foxes within two at 59-57. After a missed three by Utah, Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) would setup a baseline jumper for Fitz, who connected to tie the game with 58 seconds to go. Warburton missed a three-pointer for Utah but got her own rebound, allowing the Utes to have the final possession of the game. Kalee Whipple took the final shot of regulation, and missed a three-pointer, with Fitz grabbing the rebound, ensuring an ensuring an extra period.
Marist would take control of the overtime, as Fitz scored the first four points of the extra session at the free-throw line. The big basket of the overtime was an Allenspach triple which put the Red Foxes up five, 66-61, with 2:38 to go. Utah would only get as close as two, but was forced to foul Nikki Flores (Montvale, N.J.) with seven seconds left to try to keep the game within one possession. Flores would connect on both free-throws to ensure the Red Foxes fourth straight win.
Utah (1-2) was led by Mitchell's 24 points and six assists, with Jessica Perry adding 12 points and 10 rebounds. For the game, Marist shot 37.1% from the field and 76% from the free-throw line. Utah shot 44.1% from the field. Marist held the rebounding edge 39-35 and committed a season-low 10 turnovers.
Marist returns to action tomorrow with a 7:30 game against Nebraska.
