WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Otterbein College's dominance of the offensive boards combined with Marietta College's struggles to take care of the basketball were too much to overcome as the Pioneers suffered a 78-56 Ohio Athletic Conference road loss Saturday (Jan. 29) evening at the Rike Center. [Box Score]

Otterbein (8-11, 4-8 OAC), who connected on 32-of-73 (43.8%) from the field, pulled down 22 of its 44 rebounds on the offensive end and scored 23 second chance points, while Marietta (7-12, 3-9 OAC), who finished 20-of-50 (40.0%) overall, hurts its cause with 26 turnovers in the game.

Sophomore Aleisha Guiler (Lower Salem/Monroe Central) finished with a team-high 15 points. Senior Mallory Hoff (Newport/Frontier) added 11 points and four rebounds. Sophomore Kristeva Rowe and freshman Tori Dixon (Londonderry/Vinton County) added eight points and freshman Paige Lamb (Marietta/Marietta) contributed five points and team-best six boards in the loss.

Shea McCoy and Hannah Day both poured in 21 points to lead Otterbein. Kristin Kotterman, who matched teammate Brooke Robbins with a game-high eight rebounds, also scored 13 points to give the Cardinals three in double figures.

The Pioneers captured the early momentum by scoring 13 of the first 18 points. The Cardinals responded with a 10-2 run to knot the game at 15-15 with 8:47 left in the half. Otterbein kept the momentum going and took a 34-29 lead into the intermission.

A three-pointer from Dixon cut the Pioneers' deficit to two points, 34-32, in the opening minutes of the second half. The Cardinals, however, took advantage of a six-minute Pioneer scoring drought early in the second period to build a comfortable 58-43 lead with nine minutes to go in the game. Both teams emptied their bench down the stretch and Otterbein cruised to the 78-56 victory.

Marietta is back in action Wednesday (Feb. 2) evening when it plays host to Wilmington College in a tip-off at 7:30 p.m.