ADA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team had a rough day shooting the ball and fell to host Ohio Northern University Saturday (Dec. 3) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference competition. Marietta falls to 4-2 on the season and 1-1 in the OAC. Ohio Northern improves to 5-1 overall and 1-0 in conference games.
"Credit to ONU, they defended us really well," Marietta head coach
Kole Vivian said. "Usually when you give up 54 points, you have a chance to win the game, but our offense could never get going, and that is a credit to them. We have some things to work on before our next contest."
The first quarter got off to rough start for the Pioneers as they shot a mere 18.8 percent (3 of 16) from the field.
Erin Hahn's (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) layup put the first points on the board and
Olivia Gribble's (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) jumper gave Marietta an early lead.
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) busted a three-pointer to extend the lead to 7-2, but the Pioneers did not connect for the rest of the quarter. The Polar Bears ended the quarter on a 13-point run to lead 15-7 after one quarter of play.
Ohio Northern extended the lead by seven more points in the beginning the second quarter as the Pioneers continued to struggle shooting the ball. Marietta's first points happened at the 4:43 mark when
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) stole a pass and quickly made a layup. The Polar Bears' Kristen Luersman hit a three pointer with just under four minutes left to give Ohio Northern their biggest lead of the game (18 points). Marietta finished the period on a seven point run, though, as they were finally able to string some offensive success together.
Camille Cummins (MIddlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) hit a jumper,
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) hit from downtown, and Hahn closed the quarter with a layup. Marietta trailed by 11 points, 28-17, at halftime.
Both teams traded baskets to begin the third quarter, but Luersman's trey at the 5:25 mark gave the Polar Bears a 12-point lead. Although they were still struggling shooting the ball, Marietta went on a lengthy run. Hahn made a layup to cut the lead to 10. Tolson connected on a pair of free throws and then made two more after Ohio Northern's Kasey Knippen was called for a technical foul.
Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) made a layup with two minutes remaining in the period, but Marietta could not score again in the period. The Polar Bears tacked on the three pointer and took a 38-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
After the two teams traded shots to begin the final stanza, ONU scored the next 10 points in the quarter to extend the lead to a back breaking 19 points with 2:54 left in the game. The Pioneers closed the game with eight straight points but simply ran out of time and fell to the Polar Bears, 54-43.
Schill and Tolson led the Pioneers with seven points apiece. Gribble and Hahn finished with six points and Hahn tacked on six rebounds to lead the team.
Luersman led ONU with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Brynn Serbin added 14 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
Marietta heads home to take on Ohio Wesleyan University on Wednesday (Dec. 7) at 7:00 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.
