NIAGARA UNIV. — The Niagara women’s basketball team dropped a last-second heartbreaker, 60-58, to the Marist Red Foxes on Saturday afternoon.
The Purple Eagles and the Red Foxes kept it close in the first quarter of the game. Six points from both Stroemple and Rampado gave Niagara a narrow 17-15 lead going into the second quarter. The second quarter was a defensive battle between Niagara and Marist. Rampado and Maggie McIntyre sank back-to-back threes to give the Purple Eagles a five-point lead, 23-18, with a little under seven minutes remaining in the quarter. Marist took a one-point lead, 24-23, with a little under four minutes remaining, but Stroemple drained a 3-pointer to put the Purple Eagles back on top, 26-24. A three from Jamie Sherburne with less than a minute left in the quarter gave Niagara a 29-26 lead over Marist going into halftime.
The Purple Eagles began to pull away from Marist in the third quarter, going on a 14-3 run, capped by a trey from Morgan Baughman, to take a 43-29 lead with less than five minutes to play in the third quarter. Marist began to edge its way back toward the lead, but the Purple Eagles stayed steady on offense and held a 48-40 lead going into the final quarter of play. In the fourth quarter, the Red Foxes made a comeback, taking a one-point lead, 56-55, with under a minute and half remaining in the game. Another three from Baughman tied up the score, 58-58, with 15 seconds remaining in the game but Marist drew a foul and sank two free throws with two seconds remaining to secure a narrow victory over the Purple Eagles.
Niagara heads back out on the road to face Iona on Friday at 7 p.m. and Manhattan on Jan. 15 at 2 p.m.
from PurpleEagles.com via IFTTT
