MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's basketball team opened the 2021-22 campaign with a 63-54 win over La Roche on Wednesday (Nov. 10) evening inside Ban Johnson Arena.
"It certainly wasn't the prettiest win, but we will take it. I though we really buckled down in the second half and made them work for their points," said Head Coach
Kole Vivian. We got in a little bit of a flow on offense. Schill was a catalyst for us tonight, and Congrove was really important for us off the bench."
La Roche grabbed a 4-0 lead in the opening two minutes of the game. Marietta responded with a 6-0 run to take a 6-4 edge.
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) got the Pioneers level at 4-4 with a layup and a pair of foul shots at the 6:47 minute mark in the first quarter. The Pioneers took the lead when
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) made a layup in transition. The middle of the quarter was a back and forth battle, as the game was deadlocked at 12-12 with just over a minute to play in the quarter. The Redhawks closed the quarter on a 5-0 run to hold a 17-12 advantage.
Marietta scored on its first two possessions of the second quarter to trim the lead to 17-15. The Pioneer points were scored by a layup from Schill, and a foul shot by
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami). La Roche held a 24-19 lead to force a timeout at the 4:20 minute mark of the quarter. Out of the break, Marietta outscored the Redhawks 5-2, to make the score 26-24 at the intermission. The final five Pioneer points were scored by a three from
Jill Congrove (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) and a layup for Schill.
Marietta came out of the locker room ready to play and scored on back to back possessions to lead, 28-26.
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) and Wilson each made jumpers to open the third quarter. Midway through the third quarter, La Roche regained a 33-32 edge. Late in the third quarter the Pioneers scored four consecutive points to regain a 43-39 edge, behind a three pointer from
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin). The Redhawks made a layup with one second remaining to make the score 43-41 in favor of Marietta to enter the final frame.
La Roche tied the game to open the fourth quarter, but the Pioneers answered with a 10-0 run to hold a 53-43 lead, which forced a Redhawks timeout with 4:45 minutes to play in the game. The run was sparked by five points from
Kate Liston (Little Hocking, Ohio/Warren Local). Out of the timeout, Marietta was able to maintain its lead behind key foul shots. Gribble notched down a pair of foul shots, earned from a technical foul, to make the score 59-50 with two minutes to play in the game. Wilson notched down a pair of fouls shots, and hit a key jumper with less than a minute to play, to put the game away. The Pioneers won the game, 63-54.
Marietta was led by Schill, she had a game high 14 points, and pulled down a career high in rebounds with seven. Congrove added a spark off the bench with 11 points, on 50 percent shooting from behind the arc. Wilson added 11 points and seven rebounds in the game.
The Pioneers will return to the court Saturday (Nov. 13) when they travel to take on Washington and Jefferson, with tip off scheduled for 6 p.m.
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.
