WESTERVILLE, Ohio — The No. 21 ranked Marietta College women's basketball team finished the 2017 portion of its schedule with a 78-40 victory over Case Western Reserve University Saturday (Dec. 30) in the Otterbein Smokey Ballenger Classic.
The Pioneers went a perfect 7-0 in nonconference games this season and is currently 11-0 overall. Case Western falls to 3-7 on the season.
"We played a challenging non-conference schedule this year and while finishing up that part of our schedule without a loss feels nice, it was never the goal," Marietta head coach
Kole Vivian said. "Our goal is to get ready for the OAC and we have done that."
Marietta set the tone early against Case Western feeding center
Jenna Andersen (Columbus, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) the ball inside. Andersen was fouled on three possessions and sank all six free throws accounting for six of MC's first eight points of the game.
The Pioneers quickly opened a double-digit advantage leading 25-11 at the end of the first quarter. Marietta limited Case Western to just two points in the second quarter and took a commanding 43-13 lead into halftime.
"I love how we can score. But if we are going to keep doing big things this year, we need to defend," Vivian said. "Our effort and attention to detail this weekend on the defensive end was fantastic."
The lopsided score allowed Vivian to play his entire bench in the second half. 14 different Pioneers scored in the game.
Brooke Borich (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) scored a game-high 15 points. Andersen finished with 14 points and five rebounds.
Alexis Enochs (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) chipped in with nine points and seven boards, while
Amisha Herd (Zanesville, Ohio/West Muskingum) had eight points, seven rebounds and six steals.
The Pioneers dominated the glass grabbing as many offensive rebounds, 34, as Case Western had total rebounds. Marietta finished with 67 total caroms in the game.
Corrie Burkhardt (Zanesville, Ohio/Philo) pulled down a game-best eight boards for the Pioneers.
Laura Pullins (Long Bottom, Ohio/Reedsville Eastern) and
Jo Herd-Middlebrooks (Columbus, Ohio/DeSales) had six rebounds each.
Alexis Amburgey paced the Spartans with 13 points. Hillary Hellmann recorded 11 points and seven rebounds.
For the game, Marietta shot 34.9% (30-of-86) from the floor, 8.7% (2-of-23) from three-point range and 72.7% (16-of-22) at the free throw line. The Spartans were 11-of-53 (20.8%) from the floor, 5-of-19 (26.3%) behind the arc and 13-of-16 (81.3%) at the line.
Marietta returns to Ohio Athletic Conference play this Wednesday (Jan. 3) when the Pioneers travel to play rival Muskingum University at 7:30 p.m. in New Concord.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
