POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist Women's Basketball returns home to McCann Arena for a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference matchup against Iona on Thursday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The team will be looking to extend its current winning streak to five games.
 
PREVIOUS OUTING
The Red Foxes closed out their Buffalo trip with a strong 78-53 victory over the Canisius Golden Griffins on Sunday Afternoon at the Koessler Athletic Center. Alana Gilmer led the way for Marist, matching her career-high with 27 points. Rebekah Hand joined Gilmer in double figures with 15 points. Willow Duffell added eight points and nine rebounds. With the win, the Red Foxes improved to 12-10 overall and 8-2 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play.
 
LAST YEAR AGAINST IONA
The Red Foxes were 1-1 against Iona last season, winning on the road 68-62, but falling at home 48-37. In the first game, Maura Fitzpatrick led the way, scoring a game-high 18 points. Hannah Hand also had a great game, scoring 14 points and adding nine rebounds and three assists. The second game between the two teams was a defensive battle, with the leading scorer, Hannah Hand, scoring just 12 points. Lovisa Henningsdottir added seven points, six rebounds, and went 2-9 from the field. The Red Foxes only scored double-digit points in one quarter, and shot 30% from the field in the game.
 
SCOUTING THE GAELS
Iona currently sits at 1-20 overall and 1-9 in conference play. The Gaels picked up their lone win of the season last game against Saint Peter's, 52-42, Sunday afternoon, and will be looking to ride that momentum into Thursday's game. Iona's leading scorer and rebounder is Alexis Lewis, averaging 14.4 points and 8.1 rebounds per game. The offense runs through Treyanna Clay, who leads the team with 59 total assists and 34.3 minutes per game.
 
IONA HISTORY
The Red Foxes and Gaels series history stands at 37-13 in favor of Marist, although the two teams have split their matchups over the past two seasons.
 
FREE THROW FIRE
After not missing a free throw since November, Rebekah Hand has vaulted into the top spot in the NCAA for free throw percentage, shooting at a 96.6% rate. Hand is 56-for-58 on the season and has made 47 consecutive free throws dating back to November 19th against Northeastern, the Red Foxes third game of the season.

PLAYER TO WATCH
Alana Gilmer is fresh off being named the MAAC Player of the Week, with averages of 20.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 3.7 assists over a three game week. All of this was done on very efficient percentages, including 60 percent from the field, 60 percent from deep, and 92 percent from the line. She is fresh off one of the best games of her career, where she matched her career high with 27 points, and shot an almost flawless 10-11 from the field, 2-2 from three, and 5-5 from the line. 
 
WEEKLY AWARDS
Alana Gilmer and Willow Duffell both picked up MAAC weekly awards for the week of 1/22-1/28. Gilmer was named Player of the Week while Duffell was named Rookie of the Week. Duffell's honor was her second consecutive and second of the season. Gilmer was also named CS Madness MAAC Player of the Week for the second time this season and named the Metropolitan Basketball Writers Association's Player of the Week.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
You can follow along on the Marist women's basketball twitter account (@MaristWBB). The game will also be streamed live on ESPN3 with Geoff Brault on play-by-play and Steve Eggink on color.
 
UP NEXT
Marist welcomes the Siena Saints to McCann arena for their second home game in a row on Saturday, February 3^rd. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.