Women's College Basketball
Marist College 70, Rider University 41
Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Game
LAWRENCEVILLE-The Rider University women's basketball team lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game to the five-time defending conference champion Marist College Red Foxes Friday evening in Alumni Gym.
Rider was led by red-shirt sophomore Alyssa Parsons (Ivyland, Pa./Archbishop Wood) who scored nine points before fouling out.
Marist (18-2, 9-0 MAAC) jumped out to a 15-4 lead and lead 19-10 before Rider (2-18, 0-9 MAAC) went on a 7-0 run, three points by sophomore Caitlin Bopp (Baltimore, Md./Inst. of Notre Dame) to get within two (19-17) with 4:19 left in opening half. Bopp finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
The Red Foxes responded with an 8-0 run, opening up a 10-point lead (27-17) and Marist led 29-18 at the half.
The Broncs scored seven of the first nine points to open the second half, three points each by Parsons and freshman MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)) to get within five at 33-28 with 17:01 left but that was as close as Rider would get. McKenzie finished with five points, four rebounds and two assists.
Marist went on a 9-0 run to lead 42-28 and ahead 42-30, used another 9-0 run to go up 51-30 with 10:36 left in the contest.
"Obviously I'm disappointed in our second half," said head coach Lynn Milligan. "We started the half really well, which you have to against Marist. They beat a lot of teams early in the second half when they go on a run. I thought that we were able to stop that run and came out and got some good buckets. We got very stagnant on offense, and very indecisive. Obviously we turned the ball over a ton in the half court which didn't give us enough opportunities to score the ball."
The Red Foxes committed only nine turnovers and forced 28 for Rider. Marist had 15 steals and the Red Foxes eventually led by 33 (68-35) with 2:12 left.
"It is disappointing how we didn't have defensive fire tonight," Milligan added. "That is something that we have to find. We had obvious problems on offense tonight, but defensively in order for us to win games we have to defend. Offense will take care of itself. We will find our rhythm. Defensively we have to get stops."
Marist was led by Corielle Yarde who finished with 12 points and Maria Laterza who had 11 points and five rebounds off the bench.
Rider held preseason MAAC Player of the Year Erica Allenspach to seven points.
"They are a good team," Milligan said. "Allenspach sat for most of the first half with foul trouble so their offense stalled a little bit. I think they got some easier looks with their ball screen action and we did not defend ball screens well at all."
Rider held a 33-30 advantage on the boards.
Marist has won 14 in a row. Rider has lost three straight.
This was 44th meeting between the former Northeast Conference rivals with Marist winning 31 times including 16 straight. The Red Foxes swept the season series, having defeated Rider 81-65 in Poughkeepsie on January 2.
Rider travels to Fairfield for a MAAC game at 1pm on Sunday.
"It is what it is, you have to play who is next on your schedule," Milligan said about the Stags who are 6-3 in the MAAC (13-6 overall) after a 61-46 win at Saint Peter's Friday night. "Fairfield is obviously a very good basketball team. They run a lot of stuff that is similar to Marist in their defensive concepts and as far as their half court man to man. We are going to have to really focus on that at practice Saturday and get stronger with the ball."
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