POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - Despite a superb offensive performance from Alana Gilmer, Marist women's basketball (15-7, 7-3 MAAC) was defeated by Rider (11-8, 7-1 MAAC) on Wednesday night at McCann Arena. The Broncs took an early lead with an aggressive first quarter, and they staved off a fourth quarter rally from the Red Foxes to come away with the victory.
 

SUMMARY

• Both teams started out scoring well, but Rider took control at around the eight minute mark with three consecutive field goals.
• Rider went on to cause 6 Marist turnovers in the next seven minutes of play.
• Despite Rider's impressive early play, Marist showed defensive prowess as well to limit the Broncs' lead to 15-9 at the end of the first quarter.
• Alana Gilmer was integral to the early offense, scoring 11 of the first 16 points.
• Rider led by as much as ten points, but their advantage was cut to 23-18 midway through the second quarter.
• Marist's defense stifled the Broncs for the remainder of the half, as they failed to score in the final five minutes. The Rider lead was down to 25-22 at halftime.
• Marist had an advantage in turnovers 12-13 after 20 minutes of play.
• Rider opened the second half on a 6-0 run. Marist fought back, but Rider eventually led 35-25 midway through the quarter.
• The Broncs maintained a consistent 10 point lead until Gilmer hit two field goals in a row to cut their lead to 39-34 with two minutes left in the third quarter.
• Rider drew multiple fouls to gain free throws and another large lead, but the Red Foxes fought back to end the quarter trailing 45-38.
• The Broncs' advantage built up to 51-38 two minutes into the fourth.
• Lovisa Henningsdottir hit a hook shot to spark an 8-0 run for the Red Foxes and they reduced the Bronc's lead to 53-48.
• Marist was able to consistently trail by two possessions until Rider went on a small run to jump ahead, 60-53, with two minutes in the game.
• The Red Foxes were unable to reduce the lead any more and lost the game to the Broncs.

KEY STATS

• Alana's performance was her seventh 20+ point performance of the season, and fourth 25+ point performance.
• Rebekah Hand's streak of 62 made free throws was the fourth longest in NCAA history.
• Kendall Krick's three steals were a career-high.

NOTES

• Marist is now 42-16 all-time with Rider.
• Hand continues to lead the NCAA in free-throw percentage at 96.2%.
• The Red Foxes will have a rematch with Rider on Feb. 9, in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. 

QUOTE

"It was really disappointing for us to come off of the loss to Manhattan and just get beaten physically and mentally" reflected Coach Brian Giorgis. "Kudos to Rider. You knew coming in that Lynn [Donovan-Milligan] had them playing well. They just played a lot tougher than we did, and right now our offense is a hot mess. We don't have anybody on the same page. Unfortunately we don't have chances to practice since we have games one on top of another, but next week we'll have time to work on some things."
 

UP NEXT

The Red Foxes hit the road to play Siena (9-11, 5-4 MAAC) on Friday, Feb. 1. The Saints' "Pink Zone" game will begin at 7 p.m.