MARIETTA, Ohio - It will take two more victories, but Marietta College's goal of repeating as the Ohio Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament champions is still a realistic possibility. The Pioneers, the third seed in the conference tournament, easily defeated Mount Union 74-55 at Fenton Court Tuesday (Feb. 19) evening.
"This is a great time of year," said senior
Corrie Burkhardt (Zanesville, Ohio/Philo). "The practices are tough, but these are the games that are special."
Burkhardt stepped up big time for the Pioneers (18-8) by scoring 21 points and pulling down 14 rebounds — surpassing 800 career rebounds in the win. She currently has 808 career rebounds.
"Corrie was our player of the game," said Marietta coach
Kole Vivian. "This time of year you play as well as your seniors."
Burkhardt, who recorded her fourth double-double of the season, scored eight points in the first half to go with seven rebounds. The Pioneers didn't need her offense in the first half as
Marlo Taylor (Kimbolton, Ohio/Cambridge) scored 13 of her 15 points as Marietta built a comfortable 40-19 lead.
Alexis Enochs (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) also had 17 points, while
Bailee Brooks (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Falls) added eight points and four assists, including two 3-point baskets.
"We're playing our best basketball right now," Vivian said. "We're happy that we'll get to practice as a group at least one more time and play at least one more game."
Mount Union (17-9) found its outside game in the third quarter, but the Purple Raiders couldn't cut into Marietta's commanding lead and the Pioneers led 58-37. Mount did outscore the Pioneers 18-16 in the final quarter.
Rachel Tinkey led the Purple Raiders with 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting, while Jaime Sanborn added 11 points four steals.
It was Marietta's third victory over Mount Union this season, but the other two meetings were much more competitive. The Pioneers won in Alliance 67-62 on Jan. 16, and at Fenton Court 74-71 on Feb. 6.
"We defended a lot better in the first half of this game than either of the first two games," Vivian said. "They have some good shooters, but we made it tough on them tonight."
Both teams struggled to start the game, but the Pioneers finally found an offensive rhythm and built a 16-5 lead in the first quarter. Marietta didn't miss a beat in the second quarter as it outscored the Purple Raiders 24-14.
Taylor was deadly from behind the 3-point arc as she buried 4-of-5 and led all scorers at the half with 13 points. The Pioneers shot an impressive 44.8 percent in the first half (13-of-29), which was the same percentage for the game on 26-of-58 shooting. Marietta was also 62.5 percent from behind the 3-point line (5-of-8) in the first half, but it dropped to a respectable 42.1 percent for the game on 8-of-19 shooting.
Marietta committed two more turnovers than Mount Union (19 to 17), but the Pioneers converted those turnovers for 24 points, while the Purple Raiders could only muster nine points.
The Pioneers also outrebounded Mount 43 to 39 and scored 34 points in the paint to the Purple Raiders 16.
Marietta will return to action Thursday (Feb. 21) when they host Ohio Northern University in the OAC Semifinals, with tip scheduled for 7 p.m.
Fans can follow all of 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.
