MARIETTA, Ohio — After falling behind 12-0 in the first couple minutes of the game, Marietta College outplayed No. 14 Ohio Northern over the next two quarters and survived to upset the top team in the Ohio Athletic Conference, 68-61, Saturday (Jan. 21) afternoon. The win gives Marietta a 12-5 record overall and improves them to 7-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Ohio Northern falls to 15-2 on the season and 9-1 in conference games.
"That was a really gritty win by our team today," Marietta head coach Kole Vivian said. "After a slow start, our bench got us going towards the end of the first quarter. After that, we were able to move the ball to get good looks the rest of the way. I am so proud of every member of our team for that win."
Ohio Northern jumped out to a 12-point lead as the Pioneers missed their first 10 shots of the game. Finally, at the 3:32 mark,
Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) hit from three-point range to get Marietta on the board and hit again from downtown to cut the lead to 14-6. The Pioneers got jumpers from
Madison Cecil (Centerburg, Ohio/Highland) and
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) over the next minute and closed out the quarter with a layup from Cecil. The Pioneers trailed 17-12 after the first quarter.
Marietta fought back in the second period, outscoring the Polar Bears 15-10 in the span. Ohio Northern struggled, shooting 3 of 16 from the field.
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) hits a three pointer to open the scoring, cutting the lead to one point.
Olivia Gribble's (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) jumper at the 7:09 mark gave Marietta their first lead, 20-19. Both teams traded leads for the remainder of the quarter and
Hannah Schill's (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) free throw put the score at 27-27 going into halftime.
Ohio Northern's shooting woes continued into the third period and Marietta took advantage. The Pioneers scored the first nine points of the quarter, fueled by seven points from
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South). The lead extended to 14 as Hefner and Hill hit from three-point range. In all, the Pioneers put up 21 points during in the third and took an 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter got off to favorable start as Tolson hit a trey and Hefner converted a layup, giving the Pioneers their biggest lead of the game. The Polar Bears still had some life and began to get themselves back into the contest. Ohio Northern would go on a 16-8 run over the next four minutes to cut the lead to 61-54. Brynn Serbin's three-pointer cut the lead to three with under a minute left. Marietta called a time out to map how they wanted to handle the final minute. Hefner took the inbound and was able to knock off about 25 seconds before sending a pass to
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) on the perimeter. Although, Schill missed the shot, Hahn fought for the rebound, forcing the Polar Bears to foul. Hefner iced the game, making both of her free throw opportunities and the Pioneers claimed a 68-61 victory.
Hefner led all scorers with a gutsy 18-point performance. Hill and Tolson came off the bench and contributed 13 and 12 points, respectively. Hahn scored seven points and collected 16 rebounds.
Allen led the Polar Bears with 16 points. Luersman ended with 15 points and pulled down seven rebounds. Serbin finished with 14 points and also had seven rebounds.
Marietta travels to Westerville on Wednesday (Jan. 25) for a 7 p.m. tip-off against Otterbein University.
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.
