QUEENS, New York - The Marist women's basketball team will be back in action on Thursday, March 15th when they travel to St. John's for the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). Tip is set for 7 PM. The Marist Athletics Department is offering fan buses to the game, click here for details. The game will be available to stream on ESPN3 and audio will be available on the Red Fox Network.

LAST TIME OUT
The Red Foxes fell in a hard-fought championship game to Quinnipiac, 67-58. Marist had two players in double figures. Red-shirt sophomore Alana Gilmer scored 19 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, and contributed seven rebounds and a team-high five assists. Sophomore Rebekah Hand put up 17 points shooting 3-6 from behind the arc and also claiming seven rebounds. Red-shirt sophomore Grace Vander Weide and junior Maura Fitzpatrick each added nine points, and Fitzpatrick grabbed a team-high eight boards.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
The Red Storm went 16-14 overall this season and put up a 9-9 record in conference games. They fell to Creighton in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament 66-58. Maya Singleton led the way with 18 points on 9-21 shooting and she led the team with nine boards. Tiana England followed with 16 points on 6-17 shooting from the floor. Akina Wellere was the third player in double digits with 11 points on 3-4 shooting from the field and 5-8 from the free-throw stripe. As a team, they only took six shots from beyond the arc, going 1-6.

RED STORM VS RED FOX HISTORY
This is the sixth meeting between Marist and St. John's, and they have had the advantage, going 4-1. The most recent matchup came on November 22, 2015. St. John's claimed a 61-47 victory on their court. Sydney Coffey led Marist with 16 points on 5-15 shooting from the field and 5-8 from the charity stripe. Tori Jarosz followed with 12 points on 5-11 shooting and she grabbed 13 boards to secure a double-double. Allie Clement was the third Red Fox in double figures with 10 points and a team high two three-pointers made. Eileen Van Horn, now Director of Basketball Operations, contributed two assists and one rebound in 13 minutes on the floor.

COACH GIORGIS GOES FULL CIRCLE
Head Coach Brian Giorgis' first game as a Red Fox came against St. John's on November 24, 2002. The Red Foxes fell 68-50. Maureen Magarity led the team with 14 points on 7-14 shooting. Megan Vetter had a team high five rebounds. Nina Vecchio led with five assists. The Foxes shot 31.5% from the floor, 22.2% from three, and 63.6% from the stripe.

APPROACHING MILESTONES
The Red Foxes have two players approaching 1000 career points. Maura Fitzpatrick currently stands at 936 career points. She scored 190 as a freshman, 393 as a sophomore, and has 353 so far as a junior, not including the WNIT. Fitzpatrick set several career highs in her sophomore season. She average 12.3 points per game, shot 41.1% from the field, shot 30.6% from three, shot 75.2% from the free-throw stripe, and racked up 86 assists.

Sophomore Rebekah Hand is the other player approaching 1000 career points, currently standing at 926 career points. Hand had a fantastic freshman season, putting up 438 points and averaging 13.7 points per game. She shot 35.4% from the field, 24.6% from three, and 79.7% from the charity stripe on her way to a unanimous MAAC All-Rookie Team selection and winning MAAC Rookie of the Year, ECAC Rookie of the Year, and the Met Writer's Rookie of the Year awards. This year, she had an even better season. Rebekah put up 488 points and averaged 16.3 points per game, second in the MAAC. She shot 45% from the field, 39.6% from behind the arc, and 94.6% from the free-throw stripe, good for second in the nation in division 1 women's basketball. She was selected to the All-MAAC First Team and the All-Tournament Team.

GILMER'S GOING OFF
Alana Gilmer has been a force for the Red Foxes this season, but she has been especially dominant in her last five games. She has scored 20 points or more in four of the last five games, and she put up 19 in the other game. Gilmer averaged 21.4 points per game over that stretch. She scored 23 points at Iona and she just missed a double-double vs Niagara with 20 points and nine rebounds to close out the regular season. In the MAAC tournament, she put up 23 points vs Manhattan in the quarterfinals, 22 points vs Siena in the semifinals, and 19 points vs Quinnipiac in the championship game. She approached a double-double in that game as well, grabbing seven rebounds. Alana's strong showing at the tournament earned her a spot on the All-Tournament Team, alongside teammate Rebekah Hand.

HOW TO FOLLOW
You can follow along on the Marist women's basketball twitter account (@MaristWBB), watch live on the ESPN3, and listen to the Red Fox Network with Geoff Brault on play-by-play and Steve Eggink on color.

UP NEXT
With a win over St. John's on Thursday, the Red Foxes would advance to the second round of the WNIT's. The opponent and location will be determined, and will be released when it is available. A loss to St. John's would end the season for Marist.