POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Sophomore Casey Dulin (Milford, Conn.) set new career-highs with 18 points and seven rebounds Friday night as the Marist women's basketball team got their first win of the 2011-12 season 78-64 over the visiting Yale Bulldogs in McCann Arena.
Dulin shot an impressive 7-10 from the field while playing 26 minutes, another new personal best. Corielle Yarde (Reading, Pa.) led the Red Foxes in scoring with 24 points and added nine rebounds. Brandy Gang (Hartville, Ohio) had 10 points in limited playing time due to foul trouble.
"We got a great performance tonight from Casey [Dulin]," head coach Brian Giorgis said. "Tonight was a good win for us. We got great contributions from everybody. Our bench really carried us in the first half, and Casey was a big part of that."
Dulin had 10 points at the half, more than the entire Yale bench who only scored eight. In all, the Red Foxes' bench outscored the Bulldogs' bench 15-8 in the first half and 28-22 in the game. Senior Emily Stallings (Newburgh, N.Y.) had a strong performance with three points and four rebounds in 17 minutes.
Yarde scored eight straight points for the Red Foxes at one point in the first half, including two consecutive three-point plays and a short jumper, helping Marist claw back from an early deficit to take the lead at 23-21. After a Yale basket by Hayden Latham tied the score, Yarde then drew a double team in the paint and dished it off to a wide open Gang for an easy layup to regain the lead.
Late in the first half, after the Bulldogs cut the Marist lead to three at 37-34, freshman Natalie Gomez (Andover, Mass.) drove the floor and kicked out a pass to a wide open Leanne Ockenden (Syracuse, N.Y.) for a three-pointer with three seconds left to send the Red Foxes into the locker room up by six at 40-34.
Early into the second half, back-to-back fast break layups by Yarde, part of an 8-0 run in a two and a half minute span, extended the Marist lead to 11 at 48-37.
After Yale closed with seven points, Casey Dulin padded the lead with a nice lay-in off of a crafty pass by Kristine Best (Commack, N.Y.). Moments later, Ockenden corralled a defensive rebound and fed Best, who found a streaking Stallings for a breakaway. Stallings paused as she went up for the shot, drawing the foul, as she made the layup. She hit the free throw to convert the three-point play and give the Red Foxes their largest lead at 68-57 lead with 5:02 remaining in the game.
The Bulldogs tried to mount a late comeback, cutting the lead to just six. But Gang, Yarde and Dulin all hit consecutive shots to bring the Red Foxes' advantage back up to 12 at 74-62 with 1:29 left to play.
Marist will play their next three games on the road, beginning with a contest at Princeton on Monday night at 7 p.m. The team will then spend Thanksgiving in Cancun, Mexico for the Cancun Challenge where they will play Drake on Thursday and South Dakota State on Friday. The University of Hartford will be the next opponent to visit McCann Arena on Thursday, Dec. 1 for a 7 p.m. game.
