Marist Red Foxes Cruise to 69-44 Win Over Siena

By Connor Giblin

LOUDONVILLE – Sophomore guard Trinasia Kennedy scored 10 of her team-leading 13 points in the second half, freshman forward Caitlin Weimar corralled a career-high 17 rebounds, and Marist routed Siena 69-44 on Saturday afternoon at the UHY Center.

The Red Foxes, winners of five straight and eight of their last nine, boost their MAAC record to 11-2, and 13-2 overall. The Saints fall to 2-4 this year, with an identical conference mark.
Marist never trailed in the game, leading for 37:48 (94.5 percent of the contest). The Red Foxes pulled away with an 18-5 margin in the third quarter to secure their largest margin of victory in a MAAC contest this season.

Weimar also led the team with four blocks, tied for her season-best. Senior captain Willow Duffell recorded 10 points and eight rebounds.

Margo Peterson was Siena’s leading scorer with 18 points off 20 shot attempts. The Saints were without their top offensive producer in Isis Young.

Marist jumped out to an early 12-7 lead in the opening five minutes after Best and Kennedy nailed left-wing three-pointers.

The largest Red Fox lead came via a Duffell foul line jumper to push the edge to 16-9 with three minutes until the second.

Marilena Gerostergiou’s layup with 19 seconds left in the quarter capped a 7-2 Siena run that made it 18-15 Marist after 10 minutes.

The Red Foxes opened the second stanza on an extended 12-2 run, featuring two triples from senior captain Allie Best and four points from junior guard Sarah Barcello, that pushed the advantage to 30-17.

Following a missed three-pointer, Weimar snagged her 11th rebound of the day for an additional possession, and found junior guard Kendall Krick cutting for a layup and foul. The old-fashioned three-point play made it 33-21 Foxes with 1:35 until halftime.

Siena rattled off five straight points, but Duffell drained a jumper just before the buzzer for a 35-26 lead at halftime.

That basket ignited a 10-0 burst for the Red Foxes coming out of the break, with Duffell responsible for six points in the spurt, creating a 43-26 lead and forcing a Siena timeout.

The Saints scored five in a row, but then Kennedy contributed eight out of another 10 consecutive Marist points to balloon the lead to 53-31 after three quarters.

Siena would get as close as 19 points the rest of the way as Peterson’s three stopped the run. The Red Foxes responded to that with six straight points for a 59-34 lead.

Marist went up as much as 27 late in the contest. A pair of three-pointers from sophomore forward Samantha Bailey and freshman guard Anabel Ellison preceded capped Marist’s field goals.