BEXLEY, Ohio — Marietta College scored the first 12 points of the game and went on to defeat Capital University by the score of 71-44 Wednesday (Feb. 16) evening in Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball action.
Marietta improves to 20-4 overall and 13-4 in the OAC. This marks the third 20-win season in program history. Capital falls to 5-18 on the season and 2-13 in league play.
"We talked to the team about the significance of earning 20 wins before the game, and we really played well in the first half," Marietta head coach
Kole Vivian said. "We had a little bit of a lull in the 3rd period that we need to handle better. The best thing is we won by 27 on the road, and still know we can do so many other things better.
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) and
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) opened the scoring with back-to-back three-pointers. Then baskets from
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin),
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) and jumper from Schill gave the Pioneers a 12-0 lead mid-way through the first quarter. Marietta led 18-7 at the end of the first period.
Brooke Ommert hit a three-pointer for the Comets cutting the deficit to 11 points with 7:26 left in the second quarter. That would be Capital's last points of the period as the Pioneers closed the quarter with an 18-0 run to take a commanding 41-12 lead at halftime. Wilson started the run with a layup and then capped it with another as time ran out.
Ommert scored seven points in the third quarter and drained another three-pointer to get Capital within 20 points, 45-25, with 3:54 left in the third. Marietta stopped any hopes of a Comet comeback with the final seven points of the quarter as Gribble nailed a trifecta as time expired for a 54-29 Pioneer lead.
Marietta pushed the lead to as many as 31 points, 65-34, in the fourth quarter on a layup from
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta).
Twelve different Pioneers scored in the game with Gribble and Schill leading the way with 11 points each.
Kelly Levering (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) added eight points and eight rebounds, while
Jill Congrove (Circleville, Ohio/Logan Elm) finished with eight points.
Ommert led Capital with 12 points and nine boards. Laney Murphy scored 10 points and grabbed five boards.
Marietta closes out the regular season at Heidelberg University on Saturday (Feb. 19). Tip-off is set for 2 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.
