"You need a little luck; you need them to make a few mistakes and to make some turnovers," she said. "You don't have to be flawless, but ... in the first half we did a good job against Corielle Yarde and (Casey) Dulin and (Leanne) Ockenden had big halfs. They just have so many weapens.
"If we had the magical formula to beat them we would have used it today. All I can say to whoever else who plays them is `Good luck.' "
It will take more than luck to knock off another strong Marist team, the program that has won the last nine regular-season MAAC championships and the last six conference post-season tournaments. Since it lost its last regular-season game of the 2009-10 season Marist is 42-1 against conference opponents.
Friday was more of the same as the winners' five-out motion offense and precision cuts created numerous open looks, and Marist made enough of them (27-of-55 shooting in the game) to run out to a 36-18 lead at the half and continue to extend the margin the rest of the way.
Dulin (8-of-11 shooting) had a game-high 20 points for Marist, now 23-7 overall, wile Ockenden (6-of-10) added 15 points, Corielle Yarde had 12 points and 12 rebounds and Brandy Gang chipped in with 10 points.
Rider's top scorer was senior forward Lauren Morris, who had 15 points and nine rebounds.
The game also marked the return to action by Yarde, the conference's Player of the Year, who suffered an ankle injury in a game a week earlier, was held out of Marist's final regular-season contest at Loyola on Sunday and who did not participate in practice until Wednesday.
"Sometimes it's tough coming back from an injury ... but, not a bad way for her to start (the tournament) with a double-double," said Marist coach Brian Giorgis.
"It feels pretty good," said Yarde, about her recovery from an ankle sprain. "It was heavily taped, and that helped. It just felt a lot better than I expected."
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