Corielle Yarde and Marist kept driving into the lane, and they knocked down their foul shots over and over again.
It was too much for fourth-seeded Georgia to overcome in Tallahassee, Fla.
Yarde scored 21 points, Brandy Gang had 18 and the 13th-seeded Red Foxes upset the Bulldogs, 76-70, on Sunday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Marist (26-7) shot 52.5 percent and made 84 percent of its free throws (21 of 25) to stretch its winning streak to 11 games. Georgia (22-9), meanwhile, shot 40.3 percent from the field and 75 percent (6 of 8) from the line.
Casey Dulin added 11 points for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions, who will face fifth-seeded St. Bonaventure in the second round of the Raleigh Regional on Tuesday night.
“We knew that we just had to throw it all out there and work as hard as we could and that’s what we did,” Gang said.
Marist’s aggressive approach also got Georgia’s Meredith Mitchell into foul trouble. She fouled out with 7:01 remaining.
“Once we got her out of there it was great,” Gang said. “We had the momentum and went with it.”
Gang’s two foul shots gave the Red Foxes the lead for good at 63-62 with 5:56 to play, and Yarde’s three-point play made it 74-65 with 1:37 remaining.
“They hurt us with the drive,” said coach Andy Landers of the Southeastern Conference power. “Our defense wasn’t very good and they were very good with executing their drive options, which led to layups and fouls.”
No. 8 California 84, No. 9 Iowa 74: Cal was plenty awake and ready to play. The Golden Bears (25-9) hit the boards hard and came up with 13 steals, holding on to beat the Hawkeyes (19-12).
Playing a noon game in South Bend, Ind., which was 9 a.m. body time to the Golden Bears, they built a 16-point lead in the second half and fought off a late rally.
Cal’s Layshia Clarendon scored 16 points and hit a pair of free throws with 41 seconds to go to help hold off Iowa, which got late 3-pointers from Kamille Wahlin and Kelly Krei.
Brittany Boyd added 15 points, eight assists and six steals for Cal, which had a 41-29 rebounding edge.
Wahlin led No. 9 seed Iowa (19-12) with 15 points. Krei, Theaiurra Taylor and and Morgan Johnson finished with 14 points each and Samantha Logic scored 11 with 11 assists.
No. 1 Notre Dame 74, No. 16 Liberty 43: The Irish (31-3) took control early at home against the Flames (24-9).
Natalie Novosel and Brittany Mallory hit 3-pointers to open the scoring as Notre Dame scored the first 11 points. Kayla McBride scored 13 of her 15 points in the first half to help Notre Dame take a 44-19 lead.
Devon Brown scored 16 for Liberty, which gave up 23 turnovers, 17 in the first half.
No. 5 St. Bonaventure 72, No. 12 Florida Gulf Coast 65 (OT): Megan Van Tatenhove scored 18 points, Armelia Horton had 17 and the Bonnies (30-3) snapped the Eagles’ 21-game winning streak in Tallahassee, Fla.
Doris Ortega and Chelsea Bowker added 10 points apiece for St. Bonaventure, which overcame a 53-42 deficit in the final 61/2 minutes.
Courtney Chihil sent the game into overtime with the Eagles’ only field goal in the final 6:29, a layup that tied it at 58. Sarah Hansen led FGCU (29-3) with 15 points and 11 rebounds. The Eagles shot just 35.7 percent.
St. Bonaventure plays No. 13 seed Marist (26-7) on Tuesday night.
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