March 9, 2008
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ALBANY, N.Y. - The #24/20 Marist women's basketball team won their third straight MAAC Tournament Championship on Sunday at the Times Union Center in Albany, defeating Iona 83-63. This is the Red Foxes' fourth tournament title in five years, and the second straight win over Iona in the final. Sarah Smrdel (Mentor, Ohio) was named the Tournament MVP after averaging 10.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game while shooting 73.3% from the field.
Rachele Fitz (Seven Hills, Ohio) led all scorers in the championship game with 20 points, going 8-for-8 from the free throw line. Erica Allenspach (Miamisburg, Ohio) scored 18 points with six rebounds. Smrdel capped her tournament with 14 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Julianne Viani (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) also scored 14 points and had a game-high six assists. Nikki Flores (Montvale, N.J.) capper her weekend with 11 points and four assists with only one turnover. Flores and Fitz were named to the MAAC All-Tournament team. With the win, Marist went 21-0 against MAAC teams this season.
Marist jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead with 15:25 to go in the first half on a pair of Viani threes. Thazina Cook would lead Iona back into the game, scoring seven of their next 11 points to give the Gaels a 15-14 lead with 11:33 to go in the half. After Viani split a pair of free-throws to tie the game, Lauren DeFalco gave Iona a three-point lead with her first triple of the game. Smrdel quickly answered with a three of her own to tie the game at 18-18 with 10:55 to go in the first half.
After Anda Ivkovic gave the lead back to Iona with an elbow jumper, Marist went on their first big run of the game. The Red Foxes held the Gaels without a field goal for 6:20, going on a 17-2 run to take a 35-22 lead with 4:40 to go in the half. Flores scored the last nine points of the run for Marist. The Red Foxes reached their largest lead of the first half when Allenspach converted a conventional three-point play to put Marist ahead 42-27 with 50 seconds left in the half. Marist ended the half ahead 44-30, taking advantage of 17 points off of eight Iona turnovers.
Marist started the second half by extending their lead to 20 as Fitz converted a three-point play to put the Red Foxes ahead 55-35 with 15:55 to go in the game. The Red Foxes would extend the lead to 25 when Lynzee Johnson (Bellbrook, Ohio) scored her only two points of the game to put Marist ahead 70-45 with 10:34 to go in the game. The Red Foxes would get the lead as high as 30 in the second half, and ended the game ahead by 20, 83-63.
The Red Foxes won their 21st straight game on Sunday. They shot 43.8% in the game, holding Iona to 33.8%. Marist was outrebounded for only the third time in their last 13 games as the Gaels held a 41-40 advantage on the boards. The Red Foxes made up for that by forcing 16 turnovers, scoring 28 points off turnovers. They also took care of the basketball, with 18 assists to only nine turnovers.
Iona (19-13) was led by Tiara Headen's 15 points. Thazina Cook added 12 points and eight rebounds. Lauren DeFalco scored 11 points and had a team-high five assists. Headen and DeFalco were named to the All-Tournament team, as well as Saint Peter's Lauma Reke.
Marist (31-2) now waits to see where it will play in the NCAA Tournament, having won the MAAC's automatic bid on Sunday. The Red Foxes will have a selection show gathering on Monday, March 17 at Shadows on the Hudson in Poughkeepsie. The selections will be announced on ESPN that night at 7 p.m. GoRedFoxes.com will have more details as they become available.
