March 7, 2011
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BRIDGEPORT, CONN. - The #19/18 Marist women's basketball team won its sixth straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship on Monday afternoon with a 63-45 win over the second-seeded Loyola Greyhounds at the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. Senior guard Erica Allenspach (Miamisburg, Ohio) led the Red Foxes with 21 points and was named the 2011 Spark Energy MAAC Basketball Championship MVP. She was joined on the MAAC All-Tournament team by senior guard Élise Caron (Quebec, Canada) who added nine points and nine rebounds.
The Red Foxes have won seven of the last eight MAAC Championships which dates back to 2004. Head Coach Brian Giorgis is in his ninth season with the team.
Allenspach shot 6-for-8 from the field and 7-for-8 from the free throw line. Junior forward Brandy Gang (Hartville, Ohio) grabbed a career- and game-high 11 rebounds. She scored nine points on 4-for-9 shooting.
After Loyola (20-12) jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the first 4:42 of the game, Marist responded with a 9-0 run to even the score at 14 all. Senior Maria Laterza (Brooklyn, N.Y.) kicked things off with a layup after a Corielle Yarde (Reading, Pa.) miss. Allenspach scored the last five points of the run on a triple and a layup. The run concluded with 9:04 to go in the first half.
The Greyhounds grew the lead back to five points, 23-18, on a Katie Sheahin triple with 4:20 to play in the opening stanza. From there the Red Foxes used a 22-4 run which lasted until there was 10:42 left in the contest. Freshman Leanne Ockenden (Syracuse, N.Y.) hit a three-pointer to give the Red Foxes the lead for good with 55 seconds left in the first half. The make sent Marist into the locker room up 25-23.
Yarde converted on a three-point play with 14:56 to play in the game. Caron also hit a big three during the run with 13:17 remaining in the second half that made the score 35-27. The run capped on Ockenden's second triple of the game and made the score 41-27 at the 10:42 mark.
The Red Foxes grew the lead to as many as 20 twice in the final 88 seconds of the game. Those marks were following a pair of Allenspach free throws and a Gang layup.
In the game, Marist (30-2) outrebounded the Greyhounds 50-37, including a 16-6 edge on the offensive glass. Marist scored 30 of its 63 points in the paint and the reserves edged their counterparts from Loyola 14-3. Additionally, the Red Foxes scored 11 points off 13 Loyola turnovers.
Katie Sheahin led Loyola with 17 points and Erica DiClemente scored 11 points. Miriam McKenzie grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.
With the win, the Red Foxes received an automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship. Marist will learn its opponent on Monday, March 14 during the Selection Show, which will air live on ESPN.
Notes: Marist won its sixth straight MAAC Championship and seventh of the last eight... Allenspach scored 71 points in the three games en route to MAAC Tournament MVP honors... Caron was also named to the MAAC All-Tournament Team... Marist has won 30 games in a single season for the second time in program history (2008)... The game was a rematch of the 2006 MAAC Title game which the Red Foxes won 68-57... The Red Foxes trailed by as many as nine points on Monday afternoon... Marist leads the all-time series with Loyola 28-12 and is 4-0 against the Greyhounds in MAAC Tournament games... The Red Foxes have defeated the Greyhounds in the last 10 meetings... Marist has won its last 17 MAAC Tournament game... The Red Foxes are 18-1 when they are the top seed in the tournament.
