Closing it Out

Flores and fellow seniors aknoweldged for 4
outstanding years of collegiate athletics

Julianne Viani watched from the benchas Nikki Flores and the seniors were saluted for what was to be a historical night for the Marist Basketball program. On Senior Night at the McCann Center, Alexis Waters, Nikki Flores, Meg Dahlman, Sara Smrdel and Courtney Kolesar were all honored for their efforts in their collegiate carears. They also took care of business on the court as a
hard fought game that was close almost for the full 40 minutes ended up being a final victory to the most impressive regualr season Marist or the MAAC has ever seen. I think going into the game, Marist was the most worried they had been all season going into a conference game. St. Peters had just played them well in at their place, Julianne Viani was out, and the pressure was really on knowing they were one win away. And to anyone who viewed the game or heard it on the radio, it was obvious from the first few minutes it was going to be a close one. Marist actually found themselves trailing a couple of times within the final ten minutes as the lead continued to switch hands. But as the saying goes, bad teams find ways to lose games and good teams find ways to always win. I think that fits pretty well for this team. With them, no matter how close it is, you always have that feeling they are going to pull it out. They did just that holding on and grinding out a 71-58 win beating St. Peters by 13 in both outings this week. Have to credit the Peahens as the game was closer than the score showed it to be. The Peahens really played the Red Foxes well and could be a big challenge for them come tournament time. While Marist is the obvious #1 seed in the tourney, St.Peters will be the #3 seed. Make sure to head up to the Times Union Center at Siena College this weekend to support Marist in the 2008 MAAC Tournament.

Congratulations to the team and especially the seniors. Marist finished the entire regular season with only two loses (28-2) and was undefeated in the MAAC. With the win Saturday night, the Marist seniors girls record at Marist is an impressive 102-22.