POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – Junior guard
Sarah Barcello posted a career-best 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, freshman forward
Caitlin Weimar dropped 17 points and six rebounds, and Marist Women's Basketball downed Canisius 64-44 in the first game of a back-to-back weekend series on Friday evening at McCann Arena.
The Red Foxes won their 16th consecutive MAAC opener, and boost their record to 2-0 on the young season. The Golden Griffins fall to 0-1 in the conference and 0-2 overall.
Senior captain
Willow Duffell flirted with a double-double, recording eight points and a team-leading 10 rebounds. Freshman forward
Zaria Demember-Shazer notched eight points along with seven caroms.
Anndea Zeigler led the way for Canisius with 14 points, and was the only Golden Griffin to score in double figures.
The two teams return to the McCann hardwood to conclude their regular season matchups on Saturday, December 12th at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
- Canisius took an early lead in the first quarter, though Demember-Shazer scored back-to-back buckets on a layup and jumper midway through the frame to keep Marist close.
- Zeigler got her own rebound and made the putback in the final seconds to make it 18-13 Golden Griffins after one.
- Marist tied the score at 18 when Barcello nailed a right-wing three-pointer at the 6:42 mark of the second quarter.
- The Golden Griffins briefly retook the lead at 23-21, but fellow Arizona native and junior guard Kendall Krick drained a three of her own to put Marist up two, leading to a 27-23 advantage at halftime.
- Out of the break, Marist ignited a 6-0 on baskets from Weimar and Duffell, forcing a Canisius timeout with the home team up 33-23 just 2:15 into the third.
- Duffell stroked a triple from the left wing at the 5:35 mark of the stanza to extend the Red Fox edge to 37-23, completing an extended 16-0 run spanning almost eight minutes.
- Canisius made it 45-36 Red Foxes after three quarters, but Barcello and sophomore guard Trinasia Kennedy opened the final period with layup to push the lead to 13.
- With the score 52-38 and 7:06 to play, Barcello got an offensive board off a free throw, made the layup, picked off a Golden Griffin pass, and made a jumper while drawing a foul. After completing the nostalgic three-point play, Marist went ahead by 19.
- Freshman forward Erin Fox made her first-career bucket as a Red Fox with a reverse layup off a feed from sophomore guard Julianna Bonilla, putting Marist in front 61-40 with 2:35 to play.
- Sophomore forward Samantha Bailey's three-pointer with 86 seconds left briefly gave Marist its largest lead of the game at 22.
- Senior captain Allie Best was +21 when on the floor, best among the Red Foxes. She also paced the team with five assists.
- Five of Weimar's six rebounds came off the offensive glass.
- Overall, Marist had 49 rebounds, the most since the Red Foxes pulled down 52 boards against Navy on November 11th, 2018. Marist also had 21 offensive rebounds, the most in at least six seasons.
- The Red Foxes shot 44 percent from the field, compared to just 34.6 percent for the Golden Griffins.
- Sixteen of Marist's 26 field goals came in the low post. The Red Foxes recorded a 38-18 advantage in points in the paints, 16-6 in points off turnovers, and 18-8 in second-chance points.
- After scoring 18 points in the first quarter on 58.3 percent shooting, Canisius shot 11-of-40 and scored 26 points the rest of the way.
- Marist's elongated win streak increases to 14 games, beginning on February 1st, 2020.
- Barcello's previous career-high was 16 points, coming last season at Central Michigan.
- Weimar is the first Red Fox freshman under Head Coach Brian Giorgis to score in double figures in the first two games of a season.
- This was the ninth time in Duffell's career she has recorded 10 or more rebounds, and the fourth instance where she's gone consecutive games recording three or more assists.
- Marist has won eight in a row when Best dishes out five or more assists, and is 9-1 overall.
- This is the first time since the 2007-09 seasons that Marist has won three consecutive home openers.
- The Red Foxes improve to 51-14 in the all-time series against Canisius, and have won 10 straight and 32 of the last 34 meetings.
- The two teams return to the McCann hardwood to conclude their regular season matchup on Saturday, December 12th at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
