Feb. 25, 2007
Final Stats
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - On a day when Marist honored its senior class, the Red Foxes closed out the regular season with a 72-53 win over Fairfield, earning its program-record 24th triumph of the season and finishing its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference season at 17-1. Senior point guard Mary Alice Duff (Havertown, Pa.) scored a career-high eight points.
Kresge now has 565 career assists. Her seventh assist of the game, which set up a basket by red-shirt junior center Meg Dahlman (Spencerport, N.Y.) with 11:42 to play, enabled her to break the record previously held by Nina Vecchio, who had 563. In addition to setting its program record for wins in a season, the Red Foxes tied the MAAC record for total wins in a conference season, initially set by Siena in the 2000-01 season.
Marist also completed its home slate with a 12-0 record, the first undefeated home mark in a season in program history. The regular-season finale was attended by 1,900 fans, as the Red Foxes drew over 1,000 fans for every home game this season.
Duff, along with fellow seniors Shannon Minter (Ossining, N.Y.) and Kristin Hein (Howell, N.J.) received their first career starts in the game, joining Kresge and red-shirt sophomore guard Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) in the starting lineup. The Red Foxes jumped out to a 15-2 lead, as Hein hit a three-pointer for the first three points of the game and Minter added a three in the run. Duff and Viani also scored four points apiece in this time. Minter finished with eight points, and Hein added a season-high six on two-three pointers.
The Red Foxes never led by less than eight points after that, and took a 20-point halftime lead at 43-23. Marist shot .630 (17-for-27) from the field and hit four three-pointers in the first half, while holding Fairfield to .290 shooting (9-for-31). The Red Foxes led by as much as 26 in the second half as they defeated Fairfield for the ninth consecutive time.
Freshman forward Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio) led the Red Foxes in scoring with 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting. Viani added 13 points, four assists, four rebounds and three steals. Dahlman led the Red Foxes with eight rebounds to go along with 12 points and two blocked shots.
Sabra Wrice led the Stags with 21 points, and Stephanie Geehan pulled in a game-high 16 rebounds. Fairfield concluded the regular season with a 15-14 overall record and an 11-7 mark in MAAC play. The Stags will the fourth seed in the upcoming MAAC Tournament.
Prior to the game, Marist held a ceremony to honor seniors Duff, Hein, Kresge and Minter as well as manager James McGrath. Head Coach Brian Giorgis was also presented with a ball commemorative ball for his 100th career victory, which was achieved on Feb. 19 against Rider.
The Red Foxes will have their first MAAC Tournament contest on Friday, when they will play a quarterfinal contest at 1:30 p.m. Marist, the tournament's top seed, will play either eighth-seeded Manhattan or ninth-seeded Niagara at the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Conn. The Red Foxes won the MAAC Tournament in 2004 and 2006, and reached the final in 2005.
