POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Casey Dulin (Milford, Conn.) tied her career-high of 25 points as the Marist women's basketball team rolled to a 69-44 win over Rider Friday night in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game. It was the annual Pack the House game at McCann Arena, with a season-high crowd of 2,671 dressed in white for this year's White-Out theme.
Dulin made a personal best nine field goals, including starting the game 3-3 from three-point range. She also added four rebounds, three assists and a block. Natalie Gomez (Andover, Mass.) set a career-high with 10 points, on 4-6 shooting from the field, and grabbed four rebounds. Elizabeth Beynnon (Burlington, Vt.) was also in double figures with 14 points and tied with Emma O'Connor (Lynbrook, N.Y.) for the team-high with six rebounds. Marist shot 25-52 (48.1%) from the field and was 12-14 (85.7%) from the free throw line.
Dulin started the game by hitting back-to-back three-pointers in a 47 second span to give Marist (20-6, 15-0 MAAC) a 6-4 lead at the 18:12 mark. A Beynnon layup on a fast break put the Red Foxes up by four, but Rider (13-13, 8-7 MAAC) game back with five straight points to take a 9-8 lead with 15:48 remaining in the first half.
Trailing 11-10, Marist went on a 13-1 run to take a 23-12 lead with 8:03 remaining, holding the Broncs without a field goal for a 6:40 stretch. Dulin started the streak with her third trey. Leanne Ockenden (Syracuse, N.Y.) then followed up her own miss with a put-back layup. Beynnon scored four straight points on a jumper and layup before Dulin and Gomez both hit driving layups, the latter coming as the shot clock was expiring.
The Red Foxes maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the half, taking a 34-22 lead into the locker room at the midway point.
The lead expanded to 21 on the back of a 10-1 to open the second half. Gomez started things with a three-pointer and Dulin converted a three-point play on the next possession as the Red Foxes scored the first six points. Following a Rider free throw, Gomez and Dulin again both scored on consecutive possessions, as they each assisted on the other's layup, bringing the score to 44-23 with 14:28 remaining.
The Broncs made a bit of a run to close within 14 at 48-34, but the Red Foxes put the game away with a decisive 18-2 streak over a 5:11 span, extending the lead to 30 at 66-36. Ockenden started the run by going 1-2 from the free throw line. O'Connor then converted a three-point play and, after a Rider bucket, Gomez hit her second three-pointer of the game. Dulin scored six of the next eight points, wrapped around a Beynnon layup, and Eileen Van Horn (Waukesha, Wisc.) closed the run with a three-pointer.
Marist hits the road for a Sunday afternoon matchup at Loyola at 3 p.m. Fans can tune into Geoff Brault and Kristy Nix on the Red Fox Network and WKIP 1450 AM - Poughkeepsie with the pregame show starting at 2:45.
Notes - With the win, Marist reached the 20-win plateau for the 10th consecutive season... The Red Foxes are now 17-0 this season when scoring at least 60 points... Marist has won 25 straight conference games overall and 38 straight MAAC games at home... The Red Foxes have not allowed an opponent to reach 50 points for the past seven games, spanning all of February.
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