NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The Marietta College women's basketball team opened Ohio Athletic Conference play with a hard-fought 59-57 win at Muskingum University Wednesday night. The Pioneers improve to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in the OAC. Muskingum falls to 2-2 overall, 0-1 in the OAC. [Box Score]

Muskingum jumped out to an early 13-7 lead only to have the Pioneers fight back with a 10-4 run to tie the game, 17-17, with just over eight minutes left in the opening period.  The score stayed close the rest of the half and Marietta took a 25-29 lead into halftime.

The Pioneers maintained the lead most of the second half extending it to 10 points, 48-38, on a pair of free throws by junior #Aleisha Guiler (Lower Salem/Monroe Central)# at the 8:11 mark. Muskingum gradually chipped away at the Pioneer lead and then used an 8-0 run to tie the game, 53-53, with 2:22 left in the contest.

Two free throws from Gabbi Davis gave the Muskies their first lead of the half, 55-54, with 1:53 on the clock.

Marietta freshman #Lindsay Deemer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum)# had her shot blocked but got the rebound and the lay-up to put Marietta ahead, 56-55, for good with 1:16 remaining. The Pioneers benefitted from 17 second chance points in the game to just three for Muskingum.

The Pioneers hits three of four free throws down the stretch and freshman #Jessica Brogan (Cincinnati/Anderson)# came up with a steal to secure the victory with three seconds left in the game.

Guiler recorded a double-double for the Pioneers with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but the Marietta bench was the difference in the game. Marietta's bench outscored Muskingum's 28-7 for the game.

Freshman #Heather Booth (Newport/Frontier)# had 12 points and six boards off the bench for Marietta, while sophomores#Paige Lamb (Marietta/Marietta)# and #Tori Dixon (Londonderry/Vinton County)# added six and five points, respectively.

Hannah Nelson paced the Muskies with a game-high 23 points. Davis chipped in with nine points and Carissa Bosch had a team-best eight rebounds.

For the game, Marietta hit 18-of-51 (35.3%) from the floor and was 3-of-8 (37.5%) from three-point range. At the charity stripe, the Pioneers converted 20-of-30 (66.7%) attempts.

Muskingum hit 18-of-60 (30.0%) field goals, including just 1-of-14 (7.1%) from long distance. The Muskies were 20-of-27 (74.1%) at the line.

Marietta is back in action on Saturday when they host Baldwin-Wallace in Ban Johnson Arena for a 3 p.m. game.