2008 Woodie Awards
Marist dominates Niagara, MAAC unbeaten streak at 10
Daniel Barrack
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Sports
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With an 80-59 win over conference rival Niagara Sunday, the Marist women's basketball team improved its Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) unbeaten streak to 10. The team's 21-point victory at the McCann Center was led by junior guard Nikki Flores who scored a career high 18 points.
The Red Foxes started off great right by hitting its first nine shots from the field and getting out to a 19-1 lead. Head Coach Brian Giorgis was very pleased with the teams' quick start.
"Life would be great if every game started like this. I don't think we could start much better. I think a couple things happened early. One, we established our inside presence. We got the ball into Meg [Dahlman], who hit some big shots. Rachele [Fitz] hit some big shots, then Julianne [Viani] hit two threes right off the bat. Nikki [Flores] hit jumpers, and it just started to snowball."
Along with scoring the games high of 18 points, Flores also had six assists, five rebounds, and was the big talk of the post-game press conference.
"Nikki played amazing, and I don't even know how many assists she had, but it felt like a million. She was just finding the open man, and that's what she does," teammate Meg Dahlman said.
The score continued to snowball for the first 20 minutes, giving Marist a 45-20 lead at halftime. From that point on, Marist played conservatively.
Freshman star Rachele Fitz had another solid performance with 13 points, along with Meg Dahlman and Julianne Viani also scoring in double figures. As a team, Marist shot 45.5 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.7 percent from the free-throw line.
While the offense exploded from the opening tip, the defense was impressive as well. Marist held the Purple Eagles to 24.2 percent shooting in the first half, which included going 0-10 from three point land. At the conclusion of the game, The Purple Eagles made only 4 of 21 three-point attempts and finished with a shooting percentage of 35.4. In both of its contests against the Red Foxes, Niagara, the best three-point shooting team in the MAAC, went 6 for 42 from deep. Niagara managed only one player in double figures with Shuanna Ambrose scoring 13 points.
Marist completed its first perfect January in school history going 8-0, and won its 22nd consecutive MAAC home game. The Red Foxes have eight games remaining on its schedule, all of which are conference games. After an impressive win over Niagara, the streak must continue with the most crucial games yet to come.
The Red Foxes started off great right by hitting its first nine shots from the field and getting out to a 19-1 lead. Head Coach Brian Giorgis was very pleased with the teams' quick start.
"Life would be great if every game started like this. I don't think we could start much better. I think a couple things happened early. One, we established our inside presence. We got the ball into Meg [Dahlman], who hit some big shots. Rachele [Fitz] hit some big shots, then Julianne [Viani] hit two threes right off the bat. Nikki [Flores] hit jumpers, and it just started to snowball."
Along with scoring the games high of 18 points, Flores also had six assists, five rebounds, and was the big talk of the post-game press conference.
"Nikki played amazing, and I don't even know how many assists she had, but it felt like a million. She was just finding the open man, and that's what she does," teammate Meg Dahlman said.
The score continued to snowball for the first 20 minutes, giving Marist a 45-20 lead at halftime. From that point on, Marist played conservatively.
Freshman star Rachele Fitz had another solid performance with 13 points, along with Meg Dahlman and Julianne Viani also scoring in double figures. As a team, Marist shot 45.5 percent from the field, 41.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.7 percent from the free-throw line.
While the offense exploded from the opening tip, the defense was impressive as well. Marist held the Purple Eagles to 24.2 percent shooting in the first half, which included going 0-10 from three point land. At the conclusion of the game, The Purple Eagles made only 4 of 21 three-point attempts and finished with a shooting percentage of 35.4. In both of its contests against the Red Foxes, Niagara, the best three-point shooting team in the MAAC, went 6 for 42 from deep. Niagara managed only one player in double figures with Shuanna Ambrose scoring 13 points.
Marist completed its first perfect January in school history going 8-0, and won its 22nd consecutive MAAC home game. The Red Foxes have eight games remaining on its schedule, all of which are conference games. After an impressive win over Niagara, the streak must continue with the most crucial games yet to come.
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