SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Despite playing strong defense early, the Purple Eagles’ season came to a close after a 61-36 loss to the Marist Red Foxes in the MAAC Tournament semifinals.
 
For the third time in the last four seasons, Niagara (15-16, 9-9 MAAC) advanced to the MAAC Tournament Semifinals and each time the Purple Eagles faced the Red Foxes (25-6, 18-0 MAAC).
 
 “We did a great job defensively and we really stayed committed to the game plan,” assistant coach Corinne Jones said.  “Our players listened, they executed, but the ball just didn’t go in the hoop for us tonight.”
 
“We picked it up in the second half, attacked, we scored the ball more but overall Marist did a great job defending us.” 
 
Niagara led 6-4 after the first media timeout, but the game tied at 8-8 the Red Foxes went on a 9-0 run over the next 4:38 to take a 17-8 lead. Consecutive baskets by Kayla Stroman and Jess Flamm brought NU to 17-12 with 6:40 left in the half. However, the Purple Eagles would go scoreless for the rest of the half as Marist took a 24-12 advantage into halftime.
 
Throughout the half, Niagara held the Marist to 32.1 percent (9-for-28) from the floor and held the Red Foxes’ leading two scorers to a combined 10 points.
 
“We stuck to what we do on defense and we took pride,” Jones said.  “We had small goals down the stretch in the second half and we really wanted to keep them around 60 points, that was our goal, and you just can’t control whether that ball goes in or not, and today it just wasn’t going in.”
 
The Purple Eagles found more offensive success, improving their shooting percentage almost nine points to 31.o percent.  Stroman went 4-for-9 in the half to score nine of her team-high 13 points but the Purple Eagles weren’t able to get closer than 16 points.  Taylor McKay hit a jumper and Vanessa Neal hit a three pointer for the last baskets of the game but Marist came away with a 61-35 win.
 
“Our group has had a great year and I want to make sure we all understand that this game does not define us for the season,” Jones said. 
 
Stroman added seven rebounds to her game-high 13 points, Kelly Van Leeuwen led the game with eight rebounds, and Lauren Gatto set a career-high with four blocks.
 
Ending the season with 15 wins, the Purple Eagles have won the most games in a season since the 2004-05 campaign where they recorded 17.  It is also the most wins in a season in Kendra Faustin’s six year tenure as head coach.  And, with the birth to the semifinals again this year, it marks the first time in program history where Niagara made it to back-to-back MAAC Tournament Semifinals.

Late Friday night the MAAC announced the 2012-13 All-Academic Teams and the Purple Eagles led the women's side with six players making the team.  Gatto, Stroman, and Van Leeuwen were joiuned by Meghan McGuinness, Val McQuade, and Gabby Baldasare.  To be eligible for the MAAC All-Academic Team, a player must achieve at least a 3.2 (on a 4.0 scale) grade point average and must be of at least sophomore academic standing.