Editor's Note: As a tribute to head coach Brian Giorgis' 21 years at Marist, we will highlight one milestone win of his career each week over a 21-week span. Giorgis' final home game as the Red Foxes' head coach will be Feb. 25, 2023 against Niagara. The game is set for a 2 p.m. tip, with a ceremony to follow afterward.
 
Week One: Giorgis' First Win | Week Two: First Regular-Season Title | Week Three: '04 MAAC Championship |Week Four: '06 MAAC Championship | Week Five: '07 MAAC Championship | Week Six: First NCAA Tournament Win | Week Seven: Red Foxes Reach Sweet Sixteen | Week Eight: '08 MAAC Championship | Week Nine: '08 NCAA Tournament Win Over DePaul | Week 10: '09 MAAC Championship | Week 11: '10 MAAC Championship | Week 12: '11 MAAC Championship | Week 13: '11 NCAA Tournament Win Over Iowa State | Week 14: '12 MAAC Championship
 
 
POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist women's basketball team had some history with its 2012 first-round NCAA Tournament opponent. For the third time in head coach Brian Giorgis' tenure, the Red Foxes matched up with Georgia.
 
The week prior to Christmas in 2004, Georgia head coach Andy Landers brought his Bulldogs to the Hudson Valley for a pair of games against Iona and Marist. The Bulldogs were ranked 15^th in the country, and sophomore guard Cori Chambers – who went on to become Marist's director of operations from 2009-11 – had the opportunity to play two games close to her hometown of Elmsford. Georgia cruised to a 96-52 win at Iona on Dec. 19, but the Red Foxes fought hard two nights later. Marist led late in the first half, but Georgia pulled away in the second half for a 79-62 victory.
 
The next season, the 14^th-seeded Red Foxes met the third-seeded Bulldogs in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Georgia earned a 75-60 victory despite 20 points and 10 rebounds from Fifi Camara in her final game as a Red Fox.
 
In March of 2012, the Red Foxes had plenty of reasons to feel good about themselves. Once again, there was a trip to a warm-weather site, as the Marist flew to Tallahassee, Florida. Marist drew a #13 seed for the first time since its Sweet Sixteen run in 2007. The Red Foxes also had the support of a number of boisterous fans – including 2011 MAAC Player of the Year Erica Allenspach.
 
Georgia jumped out to an early 10-4 lead, but the Red Foxes answered with a 7-0 run fueled by their seniors, with two buckets from Corielle Yarde and a three from Brandy Gang. While the lead swung back-and-forth, a subplot developed that changed the complexion of the game.
 
Georgia guard Meredith Mitchell was a three-year starter who was selected to the SEC All-Defensive Team as a junior. With Georgia holding a 13-11 lead with 13:19 left in the first half, Mitchell was whistled for her first foul and came out of the game. She sat for just over two-and-a-half minutes, and then picked up her second foul at the 9:59 mark. Mitchell remained in the game but was called for her third at the 8:42 mark. She departed with Georgia holding a 20-17 lead, but Marist was in the midst of an 11-0 run. As a result, back came Mitchell with 5:29 left before halftime. After re-entering, she scored on each of Georgia's next two possessions, but then drew her fourth at the 4:00 mark of the first half.
 
With 7:01 to play, Mitchell fouled out with Georgia leading 60-59. The Red Foxes took the lead for good just 1:05 later. In the 19 minutes Mitchell was on the floor, she had 15 points, four rebounds, and three steals.
 
Marist then seized control of the game. From the 5:56 mark until the final seconds, the Red Foxes outscored the Bulldogs 15-6. The seniors who kept Marist afloat early were the driving forces behind another landmark postseason victory.
 
Yarde (21 points) and Gang (18) combined to score over half the team's points in Marist's 76-70 victory. Yarde shot 8-for-13 from the field, 2-for-4 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 from the line. It was the latest in the long line of her outstanding performances in big games, and she produced key plays at crucial times. She drained a three-pointer on the final possession of the first half to extend Marist's lead to five, and her three-point play with 1:37 remaining helped seal the win.
 
Kelsey Beynnon had eight points and 10 rebounds, and Casey Dulin added 10 points. Dulin's efforts were key down the stretch as she went 6-for-8 from the line in the final four minutes. As a team, the Red Foxes shot .522 from the field as they earned their fifth NCAA Tournament victory in the last six years.
 

Round Two

Marist also had some history with its second-round opponent.
 
Fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure had rallied from 11 down with six minutes to go and advanced to the second round with a 72-65 victory over Florida Gulf Coast. This was the seventh meeting between the Red Foxes and Bonnies in Giorgis' tenure, with each side winning three times. However, St. Bonaventure had won the last three, including a 67-56 triumph earlier in the season on Dec. 18. The Bonnies were in the midst of their best season in program history under head coach Jim Crowley and carried a 30-3 record into the second match-up with Marist of the 2011-12 season.
 
The game tilted back-and-forth early, but the Bonnies took a 10-point lead with 5:59 left in the first half following back-to-back three-pointers by their leading scorer, Jessica Jenkins. St. Bonaventure led by seven at the half, but the Red Foxes came roaring back in the second half.
 
Buckets by Beynnon and Yarde on back-to-back possessions put the Red Foxes up three with 12:23 remaining. The St. Bonaventure defense stiffened and held Marist without a field goal for over eight minutes, but the Bonnies couldn't pull away. Marist got to within one with 1:25 left, but the deficit was three with 10 seconds left when Jenkins went to the line for a one-and-one.
 
To this point in the season, Jenkins was 65-for-67 from the free-throw line. Improbably, she missed the front end, and the Red Foxes had a chance to tie in the closing seconds. Unfortunately, a last-second three-pointer missed, and Marist's season ended with a 66-63 defeat. In the final game of their careers, Gang scored a team-high 19 points, while Yarde contributed 13 points, four assists, and three rebounds.
 

Fun Facts

• Prior to the 2011-12 season, Marist had never defeated an SEC team. The Red Foxes topped Auburn on Dec. 21 prior to their win over Georgia in the NCAA Tournament. Nell Fortner was Auburn's coach against the Red Foxes, and was the television analyst for the NCAA Tournament game against Georgia. Fortner, who led Team USA to the gold medal as head coach in the 2000 Olympics, is now in her fourth season as head coach at Georgia Tech.
• Marist was the lowest seed to advance to the second round of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
• Marist finished the 2011-12 season at 26-8. It was the sixth straight year the program won at least 25 games.
• Andy Landers won 862 games in 36 years at Georgia. He retired in 2015.
• Jim Crowley served as head coach at St. Bonaventure from 2000-16. He is currently in his seventh year as Providence's head coach. Jessica Jenkins is one of his assistants and is the Friars' recruiting coordinator.

 

Coming Up Next

The 2012-13 Red Foxes epitomize the word team.