FAIRFIELD, Connecticut – Freshman forward
Caitlin Weimar scored 12 points, senior captain
Allie Best recorded 11 points, and Marist's defense held the MAAC's leading offense to a season-low in scoring as the Red Foxes triumphed over Fairfield 56-38 on Friday evening at Alumni Hall.
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Marist slots into first place in the MAAC at 6-1, and is 8-1 overall. The Stags suffer their first conference to go to 4-1, and is 5-2 on the year.
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Both sides started slowly, with neither team above 28 percent shooting from the field in the first 20 minutes. However, the Red Foxes made 14 of their final 24 shots and outscored the Stags 34-21 in the second half.
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Senior captain
Willow Duffell led all players with 11 rebounds and six assists, adding eight points. Junior guard
Kendall Krick and freshman forward
Zaria Demember-Shazer notched seven points each.
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The Red Foxes' stout defense limited MAAC Preseason Player of the Year Lou Lopez-Senechal to nine points on 3-of-16 shooting. Katie Armstrong paced Fairfield with 13 points.
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- Both teams struggled out of the gate, as Marist went 3-for-19 to start, compared to 3-for-14 for Fairfield.
- Sophomore guard Julianna Bonilla launched a right corner three-pointer that gave Marist a scant 9-6 edge after the first quarter.
- Marist extended its 7-0 run to end that stanza to 13 straight points, four of which came from Weimar.
- Armstrong stopped the spurt with a three, but Krick responded with her own triple that rolled in from the top of the key, putting Marist on top 18-9.
- Weimar had two layups that pushed her into double figures with 3:19 left in the second.
- That was the last bucket for the Red Foxes in the half, however, as Fairfield ended the quarter on a 6-0 that made it 22-17 Marist at the break.
- After Fairfield got within four, Best swished a right-wing three-pointer to put Marist ahead 25-18 as 1:26 went by in the third.
- With 5:24 to go in the third and Marist leading 29-24, Best nailed another three. Kennedy answered a Lopez-Senechal jumper with a triple from the right side to return the Red Fox advantage to nine at 35-26.
- Duffell's layup pushed the Marist lead to 37-26. Armstrong scored four consecutive points, but Bonilla beat the buzzer with an underhanded layup for a 39-30 Red Fox edge after three quarters.
- Marist outscored Fairfield 12-6 in the first five minutes of the fourth. Best and Kennedy buried triples back-to-back for a 51-36 lead, the largest advantage of the game.
- Demember-Shazer's ensuing five points capped the 11-0 Red Fox run that created a 56-36 advantage, putting the game away in the final minutes.
- The Stags shot 28 percent in the game, including 6-of-26 in the opening half.
- Marist had just two three-pointers in that time period, but had three in the third and fourth quarters.
- Twenty-five of the Red Foxes' 40 rebounds came in the first half. Fairfield had 30 rebounds in the whole game.
- The Red Foxes assisted on 18 of their 23 field goals.
- Marist outscored Fairfield 22-6 in the paint.
- The last time Marist had held an opponent under 40 points also came against Fairfield, on February 14th, 2018.
- Marist's streak of holding opponents under 40 percent shooting extends to 10 games, dating back to March 12th. The Red Foxes have limited their foes to 33.3 percent or less in four straight.
- In three consecutive seasons, Marist has started MAAC play 6-1. The last time that happened was from 2012-13 to 2014-15.
- Weimar has six games this season with 10 or more points.
- Friday was Duffell's 13th career game with 10-plus boards.
- In her last four games, Best is averaging 10.5 points per game and making over 43 percent of her three-point attempts.
- Bonilla played a career-high 16 minutes in the game. She had 15 minutes of playing time in her first five games this year.
- Marist now leads Fairfield 38-20 all-time.
- The rematch between the two is scheduled for Saturday, January 16th in the Nutmeg State at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
