POUGHKEEPSIE, New York - The Marist women's basketball team clinched a share of its 12th Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference regular-season championship on Saturday night, as the Red Foxes defeated Siena 81-69 at McCann Arena on Saturday night.
Marist captures its 11th consecutive win to close the regular season at 18-2 in the MAAC and 25-4 overall. Siena falls to 8-12 in conference play and 10-19 overall.
Prior to the game, the Red Foxes honored their senior class:
Alana Gilmer,
Hannah Hand,
Rebekah Hand,
Molly Smith,
Grace Vander Weide, and manager Melissa Guillen.
Gilmer,
Rebekah Hand, and Vander Weide each scored 18 points apiece for the Foxes. Sabrina Piper led all scorers with 21 points.
- After starting just 2-6 from the field, Marist went on an 11-1 run over 3:35 in the first.
- Barcello hit a three-pointer and a baseline jumper to bookmark a 16-10 Marist lead in the opening stanza.
- Marist's lead expanded to seven when Duffell converted a left baseline jumper 2:15 into the second, making the score 19-12.
- With less than three minutes until halftime, Siena tied the ballgame at 29 with layups from Sabrina Piper and Julia Hauer.
- The Red Foxes responded with seven points in 50 seconds, as Gilmer and Vander Weide converted inside, and Allie Best knocked down a triple.
- As Marist built a 40-34 lead early in the third quarter, the Saints underwent a 6-0 spurt to tie the game at the 6:19 mark.
- Siena led by three on three occasions late in the third. In the final 1:20 of the quarter, Rebekah Hand nailed a three, Duffell cashed in on a layup, and Smith collected a backdoor cut layup with five seconds left, making it 55-54 Marist.
- Seventeen seconds into the fourth, Rebekah Hand buried a triple to continue the small Red Fox burst. She hit two more threes in the first five minutes of the stanza, the last one putting the Red and White up 68-60.
- With 4:45 left, Vander Weide blocked a Tobulayefa Watts layup. Duffell snagged the loose ball on the floor and pushed it to junior guard Allie Best. She fed Alana Gilmer underneath for a reverse layup to extend the edge to 72-62.
- Siena's Ashley Williamson hit a three to cut it to 77-66, but Rebekah Hand responded with her final bucket of the evening and her 11th point of the quarter as the clock read 1:28.
- As a team, Marist shot 50.9 percent from the field, including 14-23 in the second half.
- Of their 29 made baskets, Marist assisted on 24 of them. It was 16th game this year the Red and White has surpassed 20 helpers.
- Marist drew 19 fouls and turned them into 14 free throws on 18 attempts.
- Vander Weide led the Foxes with eight assists and seven rebounds.
- Best had six assists of her own, while Gilmer and Rebekah Hand had five.
- Hannah Hand scored Marist's first three points of the game and the last two of the game for her five points on the evening.
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- This is Marist's first MAAC regular season championship since 2014.
- With 25 wins on the season, the Red Foxes have reached that plateau nine times in program history.
- Gilmer became the fourth Red Fox in program history to reach 1,500 career points in a Marist uniform, joining Rachele Fitz, Rebekah Hand, and Ursula Winter. She ranks fourth all-time in career points.
- Vander Weide slid into fourth place all-time in career assists, passing Beth Shackel. She now stands at 438 dishes as a Red Fox.
- Rebekah Hand is now in sole possession of second place in career three-pointers with 246, leaping over Marie Fusci, and fifth all-time with 764 career rebounds, passing Winter. The Argyle, TX native now sits in the top five in the program record books in points, scoring average, field goals made, three-pointers, three-point percentage, free throws made, free throw percentage, and rebounds.
- The Class of 2020 finishes their time at McCann Arena with a 35-18 record.
- Marist improves to 37-31 all-time against Siena, and has won six straight in the season series.
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- Marist awaits the winner of No. 7 Iona and No. 10 Monmouth for the MAAC Quarterfinals on Wednesday, March 11 at 3:30 p.m.
- Ticket vouchers are on sale at MaristTickets.com.
