ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey – The top-seeded Marist women's basketball team led wire-to-wire in a 66-50 victory over fourth-seeded Fairfield in the Hercules Tires MAAC Women's Basketball Championship Semifinal Round on Friday.
Four Red Foxes had at least 11 points to propel Marist to Saturday's championship game.
- Willow Duffell scored Marist's first eight points.
- The Red Foxes held the Stags scoreless for 4:20, and without a field goal for 6:13, in the first quarter. Marist led by as much as eight in the first 10 minutes, and took a 15-9 lead to the second quarter.
- A left corner three by Trinasia Kennedy lifted Marist to an 11-point lead with 4:29 left in the second quarter.
- An 8-1 Fairfield run, which included a pair of three-pointers by Sam Lewis, brought the Stags to within three with 1:15 left until halftime. However, Marist countered in the final minute with a straightaway three by Allie Best, and a steal and breakaway layup by Kennedy. The Red Foxes took a 33-25 advantage to the locker room.
- A 7-0 Fairfield run, punctuated by a three-pointer from Rachel Hakes, brought the Stags to within six at the 5:24 mark of the third quarter.
- Marist held Fairfield without a field goal in the final 4:23 of the third quarter. The Red Foxes outscored the Stags 10-4 in that span, and took a 53-40 lead into the final 10 minutes.
- Kennedy scored the first four points of the fourth quarter, which extended Marist's lead to 17.
- Two free throws by Duffell with one minute to go extended Marist's lead a game-high of 18. The Stags never drew closer than 12 in the final 10 minutes.
- Duffell and Kennedy tied for the game high with 17 points. Duffell had nine rebounds and a team-high six assists. Kennedy shot 7-for-13 from the field, and 3-for-7 from three-point range.
- Sarah Barcello had 12 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
- Best finished with 11 points and five assists, and had zero turnovers in 38 minutes.
- Caitlin Weimar had a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with nine points.
- Marist had a 39-31 advantage in rebounds.
- Marist held Fairfield to .309 (17-for-55) shooting from the field, and .200 (4-for-20) shooting from three-point range.
- Callie Cavanaugh had a team-high 16 points for Fairfield. Katie Armstrong had a team-best eight rebounds, and Hakes had nine assists.
- Marist held Lou Lopez-Senechal and Armstrong, who were named First and Second Team All-MAAC respectively, to combined 4-for-22 shooting from the field.
- Marist is now 26-1 all-time in MAAC Championship play as the #1 seed, with 25 consecutive victories.
- The Red Foxes have reached the MAAC final for the 15th time.
- Marist has held nine straight opponents under 60 points.
- Duffell's six assists tied a season high, also set against Fairfield on Jan. 15.
- Weimar turned in her sixth double-digit rebound performance of the season.
- Best moved into ninth place all-time on Marist's career assists list. She now has 344 in her career.
- "It was a great team effort," head coach Brian Giorgis said to the ESPN crew of Tiffany Greene and Steffi Sorenson postgame. "They're a very hard team to defend. They have so many sets and so many options off the sets. … We knew exactly what they were doing most of the time."
- "We attacked their zone well, made some shots, got a lead, and kept it."
- Giorgis credited Associate Head Coach Erin Doughty for her job with the Fairfield scouting report.
- "Our biggest focus this game was to take it one play at a time," Duffell said in her postgame on-air interview. "Valuing the ball for each possession was the key to our success today."
- "We've been working hard all season," Kennedy said in the postgame press conference. "It feels amazing that we've been so resilient and that we've been able to get to where we need."
- "I'd like to congratulate Brian and his staff," Fairfield head coach Joe Frager said. "Throughout the season, they proved that they deserved to be the number one seed. I wish them all the best moving forward."
- Marist will play for its 11th MAAC championship on Saturday at 11 a.m. The game will be televised on ESPNEWS.
- The Red Foxes will face third-seeded Saint Peter's, who knocked off No. 6 Iona and No. 7 Rider to reach the final. The two teams split the regular season series at McCann Arena.
