Dec. 13, 2008
Box Score
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. - Marist's Rachele Fitz netted 24 of her game-high 28 points in the second half to lead Marist (8-1) to a 73-62 victory over the Boston University women's basketball team (5-5) on Saturday afternoon at the McCann Center. Senior Jesyka Burks-Wiley led with a team-high 17 points, while classmate Christine Kinneary recorded a double-double with 15 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
The Terriers outscored the Red Foxes 16-10 off turnovers and put up 16 second-chance points to Marist's nine, however, the home squad got 30 points in the paint and 13 from its bench. After holding junior Rachele Fitz to just four points in the first half, the Red Foxes' leading scorer exploded for 24 second-half points to finish with a game-high 28.
Burks-Wiley was 6-fo-17 from the field and brought down five boards, while Kinneary was 3-for-10 and made eight free throws. Also reaching double figures was senior Kristi Dini, a Putnam Valley, N.Y. native, who chipped in 13 points in front of a large contingent of family and friends who made the short trek to Poughkeepsie.
The Terriers and Red Foxes battled through the first eight minutes of the game keeping the score to within one possession of each other and exchanging leads four times. Despite the back-and-forth action, however, the score remained low as both squads' respective defenses held the opposing offense to below 30 percent field-goal shooting through the first 13 minutes. Burks-Wiley gave BU a 15-14 lead when she converted on a traditional three-point play at 8:12, but, Marist responded with a 8-0 spurt to go ahead, 21-15, at 5:33.
BU did not let the Red Foxes enjoy the lead for long as Kinneary nailed a jumper at 5:12 and senior Amarachi Umez-Eronini forced a turnover and went in for the easy layup 30 seconds later to cut the deficit to two, 21-19. Over the next five minutes, both squads increased their offensive production and with less than a second remaining in the frame, Kinneary drew a foul and nailed both free throw attempts to round out the scoring at 31-28 in Marist's favor.
At the break, the Red Foxes' Julianna Viani led all players with 10 points, while Burks-Wiley was BU's scoring leader with eight.
The second half began much like the first did with end-to-end action and three lead changes. The Red Foxes held a slim 39-36 edge at 17:05 on a layup by Rachele Fitz. A 15-4 stretch gave Marist an 11-point advantage, 54-43, at 8:00, backed by 11 points from Fitz and four from Erica Allenspach.
Fitz continued to spur the Red Foxes' offense with back-to-back jumpers and a trey from Viani gave the home squad a 63-52 advantage with 3:26 remaining in the game. Down the stretch, Marist hit 6 of its 7 free-throw attempts to round out the scoring at 73-62.
BU will now enjoy a 16-day break before hosting the Big East's St. John's at Case Gym on Dec. 30 at 2 p.m.
