ALBANY, New York - The Marist women's basketball team will kick off play at the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. against the Manhattan Jaspers. The game will be streamed live on ESPN3.
 
Due to this season's unbalanced schedule, the Red Foxes only took on the Jaspers once this season. Should Marist win, the remaining schedule is as follows: Semifinal: Sunday, March 4 - 1:30 p.m. Final: Monday, March 5 - 2:30 p.m.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Red Foxes fell to Niagara at home 68-61. The Red Foxes were outscored 21-14 in the first quarter, and that was the difference in the game. Red-shirt sophomore Alana Gilmer led Marist with 20 points on 9-19 shooting from the field, and she led with nine rebounds. Sophomore Rebekah Hand contributed 16 points on 4-12 shooting, with all four makes coming from behind the arc. Freshman Willow Duffell was the third Red Fox in double digits with 10 points. Senor Kendall Baab had one block, one rebound, and two points in her final game at McCann Arena.
 
ALL-MAAC HONORS
The Red Foxes had three players selected to All-MAAC teams this season. Rebekah Hand was selected to the All-MAAC first team and is now a contender for MAAC Player of the Year. The Texas native was second in the league in scoring (16.3) and led the conference in free throw percentage (94.1). Hand was also sixth in 3-point field goal percentage.
 
Alana Gilmer was selected to the All-MAAC Second Team. She averaged 15.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Gilmer scored 20 or more points in 10 contests this past season. She was a dynamic player on both sides of the ball.
 
Willow Duffell was selected to the All-MAAC Rookie Team. The Harriman, New York native was an anchor on defense this season. She averaged 4.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest while shooting .419 percent from the field.
 
REGULAR SEASON RECAP
The Red Foxes finished second in the MAAC with an 18-12 overall record and a 14-4 mark in conference games. Marist compiled a nine-game win streak from January 21st vs Rider to February 14th vs Fairfield. It took a marathon double-overtime game vs Quinnipiac to break that streak, the first overtime game Marist had played since 2013 .
 
Key Stats:

• Marist averaged 68.4 points per game.
• The Red Foxes shot 42.2% from the field, 32% from three, and 74.1% from the free-throw stripe as a team.
• Three Red Foxes averaged double digit points - Rebekah Hand (16.3), Alana Gilmer (15.2), and Maura Fitzpatrick (10.6). Grace Vander Weide was close, averaging 9.3 points per game.
• Sophomore Hannah Hand led the team in shooting percentage (.510) and was second in three-point percentage (.455) in limited action.
• Kendall Baab led the team in three-point percentage (.462). She appeared in 25 games and averaged 10 minutes per game during her senior season. She averaged 2.1 points per game and grabbed 34 rebounds.

 
SCOUTING MANHATTAN
Manhattan is coming off of a win against Iona in the first round of the MAAC tournament, 55-39. Kayla Grimme led the way with 16 points on 50% shooting from the field (8-16). Amani Tatum was the other Jasper in double figures, putting up 14 points on 6-17 shooting from the field and 2-8 from three.  Grimme led the team in rebounds with eight, followed by Courtney Warley with seven and Tatum with six.
 
LAST TIME AGAINST THE JASPERS
Marist defeated Manhattan 65-40 in McCann Arena on January 6th. Alana Gilmer and Junior Maura Fitzpatrick each scored a team-high 14 points. Fitzpatrick shot 6-12 from the field, while Gilmer shot 6-13, including 2-4 from three. Redshirt sophomore Grace Vander Weide was the third Red Fox in double figures with 11 points on 5-9 shooting. Vander Weide led the team with six assists, while Willow Duffell led the team with six rebounds. As a team, Marist shot 50%(25-50) from the floor.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
You can follow along on the Marist women's basketball twitter account (@MaristWBB) and watch live on the ESPN3 with Geoff Brault on play-by-play and Steve Eggink on color.
 
UP NEXT
With a win on Friday, the Red Foxes would face the winner of the #3 Siena - #6 Niagara game on Sunday March 4th at 1:30 PM. For information on tickets, bus transportation, and more, please visit Marist's MAAC Tournament Central page.