No. 15 Seed Marist to Play No. 2 Seed Louisville in First Round of NCAA Tournament
EDISON, NJ (March 15, 2021) – The 2021 MAAC Champions, Marist College (18-3), will face the No. 2 seed in the Alamo Region, University of Louisville (23-3), in the First Round of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.
The 15th-seeded Red Foxes will take on the No. 2 seeded Cardinals on Monday, March 22
nd at 8:00 p.m. in San Antonio, TX.
Louisville lost a close game 58-56 to No. 3 North Carolina State in Sunday's championship game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. The Cardinals had a 23-3 overall record this season, and 14-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. They claimed their fourth straight ACC regular season championship this season. Louisville won its first 16 games and reached No. 1 in the Associated Press and USA Today polls for the first time in school history.
The Red Foxes won its league-leading 11
th MAAC Tournament Championship this past weekend. Marist's championship is its first since 2014. The Red Foxes won their first title in 2004, followed by nine straight from 2006-14.
This was Marist's 15th appearance in the MAAC championship game, all of which have come under the leadership of head coach Brian Giorgis. The Red Foxes topped No. 9 Siena College, No. 4 Fairfield University and No 3 Saint Peter’s University on their way to the MAAC Championship.
Leading the way for the Red Foxes is Willow Duffell, who was named the 2021 MAAC Championship Most Outstanding Performer. She averaged 17.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists in Marist's three victories at the MAAC Championship. Duffell was joined on the All-Championship Team by Freshman Caitlin Weimar and Senior Allie Best. Weimar averaged 10.5 points, 10.0 rebounds, and 3.5 blocked shots in her two games. Best, the NCAA leader in assist-to-turnover ratio, had 19 assists against just three turnovers in three games.
About Time Out for Black Lives
Time Out for Black Lives aims to inspire and educate youth, athletes, families and fans. The initiative has an interactive website where coaches and student-athletes from MAAC basketball programs contribute their time and resources to read children’s books in entertaining videos, all focusing on Black culture, history, music and myths. The program comes as part of the MAAC’s
United for Justice campaign that was announced over the summer. For more information, visit
timeoutforblacklives.com.
About the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference:
With 11 institutions strongly bound by the sound principles of quality and integrity in academics and excellence in athletics, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) celebrates its 40th year of competition during the 2020-21 academic year. Current conference members include: Canisius College, Fairfield University, Iona College, Manhattan College, Marist College, Monmouth University, Niagara University, Quinnipiac University, Rider University, Saint Peter’s University, and Siena College.