ERIE, Pa. – The Marietta College women's basketball team earned a 76-68 road win at Penn State-Behrend on Wednesday (Nov. 16) evening. With the win the Pioneers improve to 2-1 overall, and with the loss the Lion fall to 1-2 overall.
"Just a back and forth game tonight until the fourth quarter when we were able to put them away," said Head Coach
Kole Vivian. "Our bench was huge tonight for us playing and making a big difference. And our starters had a great start to the fourth quarter, giving us breathing room before we pushed it out close to 20. It is so nice to have the depth we have right now."
The Lions jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the first three minutes as Madilyn Boyer hit on three layups. Marietta slowly climbed back into the game and eventually tied the game on
Camille Cummins (MIddlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) driving layup and subsequent bonus free throw with three minutes remaining in the quarter.
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) came off the bench to provide two consecutive shots from the paint and the Pioneers ended the first quarter with a 19-14 lead.
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) scored the first points of the second quarter with a layup and
Kelly Levering (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) followed with a layup on the Pioneers next possession to extend the lead to six points. Later in the quarter,
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) hit from three-point range to extend the lead to 12 with four minutes remaining in the first half. The Lions began to heat up, though, and closed the second quarter on an 11-4 run, trimming the Pioneers advantage to 35-30 going into intermission.
Marietta extended its lead eight right out of the gate as they opened the third quarter with an
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) three-pointer. The two teams traded shots over the next few minutes, but the Lions went on a six point run to trim the lead. They eventually were able to tie the score at 47 with 2:29 left in the period. Cummins and Hefner answered with two consecutive layups and the Pioneers led 51-49 entering into the final frame.
The Pioneers saved the best for last as they shot 11 of 15 from the field in the final stanza. Marietta went on an 11 point run, fueled by buckets from Hahn,
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta),
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban), and
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin). The Pioneers extended the lead to 18 on another 10 point run, keyed by shots from Tolson, Cummins, and Levering. The Lions tried to whittle down the lead but simply ran out of time. Marietta closed out the game and won 76-58.
The Pioneers were led by Hefner, she had a team high 11 points, and pulled down five rebounds. Cummins had 10 points. Levering led the team in rebounds with nine.
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) dished out five assists.
Marietta will return to the court Tuesday (Nov. 22) when they host Case Western Reserve University, with tip off scheduled for 7 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.
