By Samuel Higuera
POUGHKEEPSIE – The Marist women’s basketball team dropped a conference matchup against Niagara by a score of 74-56 on an emotional Saturday afternoon in which head coach Brian Giorgis coached his final game in McCann arena.
A Marist scoring drought that lasted 3:24 allowed Niagara to go on an 8-0 run and grab an early 10-5 lead at the 3:53 mark. The Purple Eagles led 14-13 at the end of the first.
Niagara used a 6-0 run to take a 27-19 lead with just under four minutes remaining in the first half.
Despite shooting a solid 10-for-21 (48%) from the field, the Red Foxes trailed 33-27 at halftime. The difference was Niagara’s full-court defensive pressure which caused 13 Marist turnovers in the first half of play.
A 9-1 run gave the Purple Eagles a 50-34 lead at the 3:51 mark in the third quarter which was their largest lead of the game up to that point.
The Red Foxes trailed 57-41 heading into the final quarter.
Niagara led by as many as 22 in the fourth quarter as Marist did not make a field goal in the final 5:05 of play.
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/FDR-Web.jpg")
![](https://hudsonvalleypress.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Walden_Savings_Bank1.gif")
