MARIETTA, Ohio — Enjoying the best season in program history, the Marietta College women's basketball team is looking its first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.
The Pioneers (21-4, 14-4 OAC) are seeded second in the OAC Tournament and will host No. 7 seed John Carroll University (8-17, 6-12 OAC) Tuesday (Feb. 20) in the quarterfinal round. Tip off in Ban Johnson Arena is set for 6 p.m.
Ohio Northern (21-4, 15-3 OAC) earned the top seed and will host No. 8 seed Wilmington (11-14, 6-12 OAC). No. 3 Mount Union (15-10, 12-6 OAC) hosts No. 6 Capital (13-12, 9-9 OAC) and No. 4 Otterbein (16-9, 12-6 OAC) hosts No. 5 Baldwin Wallace (15-10, 11-7 OAC) in the other quarterfinal matchups.
The semifinals are slated for Thursday and the championship game will be on Saturday.
Marietta swept the season series from Blue Streaks. Back in December, the Pioneers won in University Heights by the score of 73-62.
Amisha Herd (Zanesville, Ohio/West Muskingum) scored 15 points and
Corrie Burkhardt (Zanesville, Ohio/Philo) notched a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Pioneers.
The Pioneers pounded John Carroll, 90-54, in a January matchup in Ban Johnson Arena.
Brooke Borich (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) led four Pioneers in double figures with 16 points.
Pioneer head coach
Kole Vivian, in his 2nd season at the helm, enters the OAC Tournament with the league's leading offense as Marietta averages 78.1 points per game.
Seniors Borich and Herd, both 1,000-point career scorers, lead the Pioneer attack. Borich is tops on the team averaging 13.9 points per game. She leads Marietta with 122 total field goals and an 80.2% free throw percentage. Herd averages 13.0 points per game and leads the OAC with 106 assists and 82 steals.
Burkhardt, a junior, averages 9.8 points and leads the Pioneers with 8.2 rebounds per game. Junior
Shay Lett (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) is averaging 8.5 points and 3.4 rebounds, while sophomore
Alexis Enochs (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) is averaging 8.4 points and 5.2 boards.
John Carroll, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Kelly Morrone, counts on its inside game. Freshman forward Nicole Heffington leads the Blue Streaks averaging 16.0 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Junior forward Chelbi Graham averages 10.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per night.
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.
