BEREA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's basketball team was eliminated from the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament with a 72-41 loss in the semifinal round, to 10th ranked Baldwin Wallace University, on Thursday (Feb. 27) evening inside Ursprung Gymnasium. The Pioneers finished the season with a 14-13 record, and the Yellow Jackets are now 25-2 on the season.
Head Coach
Kole Vivian said, "Despite the score, I thought we competed really hard the entire night. In the end we didn't do a good job of defending the three point line or rebounding."
After the teams each scored on their opening possession, Baldwin Wallace opened up an 8-0 run that saw them notch a 10-2 edge, two minutes into the game. The Marietta bucket was scored by
Marlo Taylor (Kimbolton, Ohio/Cambridge). The Pioneers halted the run behind a layup from
Bailee Brooks (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Falls). The Yellow Jackets were able to grab a double-digit lead in the first quarter and led, 24-14 to enter the second quarter.
The teams swapped buckets for the first five minutes of the second quarter and Baldwin Wallace held a 29-18 advantage. The early offense for Marietta was led by
Jill Congrove (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) and
Luce Duritza (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler Area). The second quarter remained tight, as the quarter was dominated on the defensive side of the ball. The Pioneers could not trim the lead to single digits, and trailed 33-20 at the intermission.
Marietta opened the third quarter on an 8-2 run that trimmed the Yellow Jackets lead to 35-28. The run was sparked by a pair of the three pointers from Congrove and Taylor, with a layup from
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South). Baldwin Wallace responded with a 7-0 run to extend a 42-28 edge with seven minutes to play in the quarter. The Yellow Jackets continued their strong play, and entered the final frame ahead, 50-31.
Baldwin Wallace carried its momentum over to the fourth quarter, as they opened the fourth on a 12-3 run that saw the lead grow to 62-34. Hefner and
Alexis Enochs (Beverly, Ohio/Fort Frye) accounted for the Pioneer points. The Yellow Jackets closed out the game and won, 72-41.
The Pioneers were led by Taylor as she scored 12 points, and had a game high two blocks. Enochs pitched in with nine points, and pulled down six rebounds in the game.
Taylor and Enochs finish their Marietta careers as the first two players in program history to have a winning record all four years.
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.
