Fitz No. 1 at Marist, More Coming

In case you missed it, Marist's junior forward Rachele Fitz became the leading career scorer at that school's women's program in the Lady Red Foxes' 70-44 victory over Manhattan on Friday (Jan. 30th).

The 6-foot-1 Fitz had only six points in the game after getting into early foul trouble, but it was enough to push her career point total to 1,593, surpassing the previous school record-holder, Ursula Winter's 1,587 mark.

This humble blogger couldn't possibly identify every milestone statistic compiled within the MAAC, but Fitz' growing total is worth noting because it could continue to grow into a real big one.

Barring something unusual, she is likely to get near the top of the all-time scoring mark for anyone who ever played in the MAAC on the women's side.

If one projects Marist to play three MAAC tournament games this year, and one in a national post-season event, then Fitz will have a minimum of 12 more games to play this season. And, if the same happens next year, she will play 33 more games as a junior.

That's 45 more games. If she continues to score at her 20.2 point-per-game rate of this season, that's 909 more points, which would get her just over 2,400 points for her career. And, then, there's a chance that Marist could go beyond one game in a national post-season event. Last year it got to the NCAA tournament's second round, and two years ago it played in three NCAA tournament games.

Only two players in the league's history have scored more than 2,400 career points.

Patty Stoffey of Loyola (1991-95) finished with 2,467 career points, while Sheila Tighe of Manhattan (1980-84) finished with 2,412.

Only three other conference players finished with at least 2,000 points. They are Melanie Halker of Siena (1995-99), 2021 points; Tonya Grant of Saint Peter's (1986-90), 2020 points; and, Shauna Geronzin of Canisius (1998-2002), 2012 points.

Fitz looks like a certainty to join the "Fabulous Five" atop the league's all-time scoring list and, probably, become one of the all-time top three ... if not, ultimately, No. 1.