MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College overcame a slow start to defeat Otterbein University 62-57 Saturday (Jan. 17) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball action. The Pioneers improve to 6-9 overall and 2-6 in the OAC, while the Cardinals slip to 5-10 on the season and 2-6 in conference play.
Marietta missed its first six shots of the game and scored only two points in the first six minutes of play. Fortunately for the Pioneers, Otterbein was just as cold. With 12:09 left in the first half the score was tied, 5-5.
Back-to-back three-pointers from sophomore
Morgan Liedtke (Lowell/Fort Frye) sparked the Pioneer offense. Marietta went on a 22-2 run and led 27-7 with 5:52 to play before halftime. Otterbein answered with a 14-0 run of its own to close the half and trailed by six, 27-21, at the break.
Marietta pushed the margin to 11 points early in the second half and maintained a comfortable lead for most of the period. A jumper from senior
Heather Booth (Newport/Frontier) with 8:38 remaining gave the Pioneers its biggest lead of the game, 51-37.
BorichOtterbein rallied and trimmed the deficit to five points, 57-52, on a layup from Amariah Huck at the 1:15 mark. After a missed three-pointer and a turnover, the Cardinals were forced to foul the Pioneers. Marietta hit 6-of-8 free throws sown the stretch to secure the victory.
Senior
Jessica Brogan (Cincinnati/Anderson) and freshman
Brooke Borich (Beverly/Fort Frye) led a balanced Pioneer attack. Brogan scored a team-high 13 points, while Borich chipped in with 10. Booth and
Sierra Sigman (Chillicothe/Zane Trace) each added eight points and
Amisha Herd (Zanesville/West Muskingum) tallied seven points and six rebounds.
Otterbein's Huck led all scorers with 23 points and was one of four Cardinals to grab seven rebounds. Abby Miduri finished with 10 points.
For the game, Marietta was 21-of-59 (35.6%) from the floor, 5-of-19 (26.3%) from three-point range and 15-of-27 (55.6%) at the free throw line. Otterbein shot 35.5% (22-of-62) from the floor, 28.6% (6-of-21) behind the arc and 77.8% (7-of-9) at the line.
The Cardinals outrebounded Marietta 45-41. Otterbein committed 19 turnovers which led to 21 Pioneers points, while Marietta turned the ball over 12 times resulting in only four Cardinal points.
Marietta plays at Mount Union on Wednesday (Jan. 21). Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. 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 and Instagram.
