MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team is looking to add another first in what has already been a historic season. With a win against Capital University in the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament semifinal on Thursday (Feb. 22), the Pioneers would advance to the championship game for the first time in program history.
The No. 2 seeded Pioneers (22-4) and No. 6 seed Capital (14-12) will tip off at 6 p.m. in Ban Johnson Arena. Marietta defeated No. 7 seed John Carroll 85-72 in the first round, while the Crusaders upset No. 3 Mount Union 65-60 on Tuesday.
Top-seeded Ohio Northern hosts No. 4 Otterbein in the other semifinal. The Polar Bears defeated No. 8 Wilmington 76-60 in their opener, while Otterbein defeated No. 5 Baldwin Wallace 74-64 in the quarterfinals.
The two semifinal winners will face off in the championship game on Saturday at the highest remaining seed.
Marietta swept the season series from Capital. Freshman
Laura Pullins (Long Bottom, Ohio/Reedsville Eastern) led the Pioneers with 16 points in Marietta's 58-54 win in Columbus in the first meeting between the two schools.
Amisha Herd (Zanesville, Ohio/West Muskingum) added 12 points and
Corrie Burkhardt (Zanesville, Ohio/Philo) had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The Pioneers turned a nine-point halftime deficit into an 80-67 win in Ban Johnson Arena two weeks ago.
Brooke Borich (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) led Marietta with 21 points. Burkhardt finished with 18 points and
Jenna Andersen (Columbus, Ohio/Thomas Worthington) added 15 points.
Under the direction of second-year head coach
Kole Vivian, Marietta is led by seniors Borich and Herd. Borich is tops on the team averaging 13.9 points per game. She leads MC with 126 total field goals and an 80.7% free throw percentage. Herd averages 12.8 points per game and leads the OAC with 113 assists and 85 steals.
Burkhardt averages 10.1 points and leads the Pioneers with 8.3 rebounds per game.
Shay Lett (Chillicothe, Ohio/Chillicothe) is averaging 9.1 points and 3.4 rebounds, while
Alexis Enochs (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) averages 8.4 points and 5.3 boards.
Dixie Jeffers, in her 32nd season at the helm of the Crusaders, won her 700th career game earlier this season. Capital is led by junior forward Erin Risner. Risner averages 11.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Freshman Elle Folan is averaging 11.0 points and 2.3 rebounds, while sophomore Regan Stonerock averages 7.5 points and a team-best 8.3 boards.
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.
