MARIETTA, Ohio – Marietta College women's basketball team improved to 5-2 with a 72-65 home win over Ohio Wesleyan on Wednesday (Dec. 7) evening.
"This was a game we needed after our last contest on Saturday," said Head Coach
Kole Vivian. "We were locked in from the start, and made life really tough for them in the first half. Then Olivia came alive in the 2nd half. We can finish the game better, but I'm glad we got this one in front of the home crowd."
Marietta opened the game with a three-pointer from
Kelly Levering (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty), who get the start in place of an injured
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban). Ohio Wesleyan answered as Elizabeth Homan scored a quick five points to give OWU an early edge.
Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) came off the bench and hit from downtown to inch the score closer and
Paige Tolson's (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) triple halfway through the quarter gave the lead back to the Pioneers, 12-9. In total, Marietta closed out the quarter on a 14-0 run with the final baskets scored by
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta). The Pioneers held a 19-9 advantage to enter the second quarter.
Marietta expanded the lead into the quarter as
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami),
Camille Cummins (MIddlefield, Ohio/Cardinal), and
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) all hit jumpers, giving the Pioneers a 16-point lead. The Battling Bishops got some help from the bench as Mia Guscoff and Graci Semptimphelter both connected from three-point range to cut the lead to. 10.
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) nailed a jumper and Cummins put in another layup in the final seconds to put the score at 31-19, giving the Pioneers the lead going into intermission.
Ohio Wesleyan opened the third quarter on a 5-0 rally to cut into the lead. All five Battling Bishop points were scored by Kasey Schipfer. Hefner scored on a layup and converted the bonus free throw to stop the momentum and
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) hit from downtown to push the lead back out to 37-24. In fact, Gribble began to get comfortable from the perimeter as she hit twice more from beyond the arc. The Pioneers ended the third with a 50-37 lead.
The fourth quarter saw Ohio Wesleyan doing everything they could to stay in the game. Down by 15 points with eight minutes remaining, Semptimphelter hit twice from three-point range to cut the lead to nine. Hefner answered with three points, though, to get the lead back to 12. Two consecutive OWU jumpers cut the lead to eight, but Gribble nailed another trey to push the margin back to 11. The Pioneers closed it out and claimed a 72-65 victory.
The Pioneers were led by Gribble with 19 points. Hefner finished with 12 points and dished out five assists.
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) had a solid game and finished with 11 points.,
Marietta will return to the court Saturday (Dec. 10) when they host Baldwin Wallace in a conference matchup, with tip off scheduled for 4 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.
