Marist Women Pass Test Vs. Quinnipiac In Opener

Meet the new boss when it comes to MAAC women's basketball ....

Same as the old boss.

It's Marist, of course.

We're only one game into league play, the season opener for the Red Foxes coming Friday night.

But the schedule maker did fans of the conference a big favor by creating a big-time matchup for the curtain-raiser.

It was Marist at Quinnipiac, the meeting of the conference's two teams that went to the women's NCAA tournament a year ago, the conference's two teams that put up perfect league records in the 2012-13 season.

The Red Foxes, of course, did it by going unbeaten in MAAC play and advancing to the NCAA's as the conference's representative.

Quinnipiac did the same thing in its former league, going 16-0 in the Northeast Conference a year ago and advancing to the NCAA's before moving up to the MAAC for the current season.

Marist earned a 69-63 victory in the battle of teams picked, in the coaches' preseason poll, to finish first (Marist) and third (Quinnipiac) this season.

Your scribe got to view a good portion of the contest view the magic of the internet, and the impression is that Marist, despite height limitations (again, much like last season) is impressive again in its precision motion offense and defensive work that takes away what opponents like to do best.

Friday the Red Foxes' defense virtually took Quinnipiac's preseseason second-team pick forward Brittany McQuain out of the offense. McQuain, who entered the game averaging 13.2 points per game, got just two points on 1-of-4 shooting against Marist.

Marist continued to get offense from a variety of different sources. Friday it was sophomore guard Sydney Coffey leading the way with a career-high 19 points. Madeline Blais, another sophomore, added 11 while senior forward Emma O'Connor chipped in with 11.

Marist had a 13-point lead late in the first half before Quinnipiac rallied to within 33-27 at halftime..

The hosts then got to within a point at the 18:18 mark of the second half before an 11-0 Marist run behind five points from Coffey and four from O'Connor.

The Bobcats cut it to two once again, 56-54, with 6:27 remaining and to within one with less than four minutes to go.

And, Marist's lead was down to one again with 2:06 remaining.

O'Connor then scored for the winners and Coffey made two free throws to push the advantage to five. Quinnipiac got within three once more, but couldn't get any closer as Marist closed it out.