Women’s College Basketball: Marist College 69, Rider University 44

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — The Rider University women’s basketball team lost a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game at 10-time defending regular season conference champion Marist College Friday evening (Feb. 22) at McCann Arena in Poughkeepsie.

Rider (13-13, 8-7 MAAC) was led by the 23rd career ‘double-double’ from junior MyNeshia McKenzie (Springfield, Pa./Springfield (Delco)).  McKenzie had 11 points and 11 rebounds for her 11th ‘double-double’ of the season.

The Broncs opened the game with a layup from senior Caitlin Bopp, 33 seconds into the contest.  Saddled by early foul trouble, Bopp finished with four points, 10 rebounds (five offensive), a block and a steal in 22 minutes.

Marist (20-6, 15-0 MAAC) responded with a three pointer by junior Casey Dulin with 18:59 left in the opening period.  Dulin scored Marist’s first six points of the game and tied a career-high with 25 points, 14 in the opening half.

Trailing 8-4, Rider went on a 5-0 run, three points by freshman Taylor Wentzel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and two points from McKenzie as the Broncs retook the lead 9-8 with 15:48 left in the first period.  Wentzel had three points and two rebounds.

Trailing 11-10, Marist went on a 12-1 run before a jumper by graduate student Carleigh Brown (Philadelphia, Pa./Nazareth Academy) cut the Red Fox lead back to nine with 7:38 left in the opening half.  C. Brown had four points and four rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench.

Marist led 34-22 at intermission.

The game had seven lead changes, all in the opening 20 minutes.

The Red Foxes held Rider without a field goal for the first six minutes of the second half as part of a 10-1 run and Marist opened up a 44-23 lead with14:00 left in the game.

Rider responded with a 5-0 run, two points each by McKenzie and red-shirt freshman Manon Pellet (Marseille, France), cutting the Marist lead to 44-28 with 12:34 left.  Pellet had four points in nine minutes off the bench.

Leading 52-36, the Red Foxes pulled away with a14-0 run, as Marist opened up a 30-point lead (66-36) with 2:58 left in the game.

Also for the Broncs, senior Sironda Chambers (Wilmington, Del.) had seven points with freshman Janine Loutzenhiser (Orinda, Calif./Miramonte) adding five points in two minutes off the bench.

Rider out-rebounded Marist 39-38, 19-9 on the offensive glass but the Red Foxes held a 30-14 advantage on points in the paint.

The Red Foxes out-shot the Broncs 48 percent (25-52) to 27 percent (27 percent).

Marist has won 20 in a row over Rider and the Red Foxes lead the all-time series 35-13.

Marist is on a 15-game winning streak and the Red Foxes have won 38 straight games at McCann Arena.

Rider travels to Saint Peter’s University for a 2pm MAAC game on Sunday.  The Peacocks lost at Siena 70-67 Friday evening.