Box Score Photo Gallery
MARIETTA, Ohio – A furious second half comeback came up just short as Heidelberg University held off Marietta College 85-79 Saturday (Feb 8) in women's basketball action at the Ban Johnson Arena. The win dropped the Pioneers into a seventh place tie with the Student Princes in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) standings at 4-10. Overall Marietta dropped to 10-11 and Heidelberg improved to 11-10 with the win.??
The early stretches of the game saw an even back and forth battle with neither team able to stretch a lead by more than five points. However, turnovers and poor shooting, particularly from behind the arc began to plaque the Pioneers and Heidelberg's lead crept in double digits and peaked at 18 with 1:14 left in the first half. The Student Princes finished the first half on a 30-15 run to go into the break with a 43-26 advantage. The Pioneers shot 43% for the first half, but were 16% (1-6) from behind the three point line while Heidelberg finished the half at 50% including a torrid 43% (6-14) from behind the arc.
Heidelberg maintained a comfortable double digit lead throughout the majority of the second half, but with less than four minutes to go the Pioneers started a late surge and cut the lead to four on
Jessica Brogan (Cincinnati/Anderson)'s three pointer with 41 seconds left. The Pioneers began to foul the Student Princes in a last minute effort to cut the lead further, but Heidelberg hit six of eight from the charity stripe to ice the game.
For the second half, the Pioneers warmed up a bit from behind the three point line which, in part, helped fuel the comeback. Marietta finished the second half shooting at a 36% (4-11) clip from behind the three point line. The second half left the Pioneers shooting 29% from three point range for the game, which is behind the Pioneers season average of 33%. Heidelberg cooled off from behind the three point line in the second half shooting 22% (2-9) and finishing the game with a three point clip of 35%, above their season average of 32%.
Leading the way for the Pioneers was
Candice Alexander (Fairborn/Fairborn) with 23 points on 9 of 15 shooting. Alexander also pulled down nine rebounds for the game.
Heather Booth (Newport/Frontier) chipped in 18 points with 9 of 15 shooting and she also hauled down nine rebounds for the game. Brogan added 15 points and
Tori Dixon (Londonderry/Vinton County) contributed with 12.
Kathleen Phillips led the Heidelberg with a 21-point, five rebound and two assists day. Phillips' 21 against the Pioneers marked her 16th 20-point performance of the year. Jackie Albrecht finished with 11-points in the win while Paige Ricketts and Molly Schriber's each had 10 points.
Heidelberg out rebounded the Pioneers 39-25 on the day. Marietta kept the turnovers in the second half to a minimum and finished the day with 15 to The Student Princes 18. From the charity stripe the Pioneers shot 71% on 22 of 31 and Heidelberg shot a stellar 88% hitting 23 of 26 free throws.
Marietta returns to Fenton Court on Wednesday in an important OAC match up. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 pm. Capital currently sits in fourth place with a 10-4 league mark. The Crusaders beat the Pioneers 74-72 in Columbus earlier in the season. The Pioneers have four OAC games left as they look to qualify for the OAC post season tournament for the third season in a row.
Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.
