BEREA, Ohio — For the second consecutive weekend, the Marietta College women's basketball team upset a highly ranked conference foe as they defeated #10 Baldwin Wallace University, 59-49, Saturday (Jan. 28) afternoon. With the win, Marietta improves to 13-6 overall and 8-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Baldwin Wallace falls to 17-2 on the season and 10-2 in conference games.
"This was such a big win for our program and culture," Marietta head coach
Kole Vivian said. "We made some adjustments after our last game, and the entire team responded. For us to hold them to 25% shooting and the way we battled on the boards against a team we have a lot of respect for, that shows how much we are growing. I really can't wait to see how much we keep growing in February."
The Pioneers got on the board first when
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta), who got a rare start, converted a layup. The next nine points, though, belonged to the Yellow Jackets, fueled by a jumper and a three-pointer from Emily Irwin. The Pioneers crept back as
Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) hit a jumper at the 3:35 mark to cut the lead to 9-7. Baldwin Wallace ripped off the next six points to extend the lead, but Kroft ended the quarter as she began it, with a layup, and the Pioneers trailed 15-9 at the end of the first quarter;
The second quarter began with a couple of layups from
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South), trimming the lead to two. The Yellow Jackets answered with two buckets of their own and led 20-13 halfway through the period. The two teams traded baskets for the remainder of the half.
Makenzie Wilson's (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) layup ended up being the final points of the half and Baldwin Wallace took a 23-17 lead into intermission.
Once again, the Pioneers scored the first points of the second half as
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) scored on a driving layup and Kroft nailed a mid-range jumper, cutting the lead to two points. After BW's Sylvie Sonneman nailed a shot from downtown, the Pioneers would storm back.
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) and
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) would each bury a three-pointer and Marietta would lead for the first time since early in the first period, taking a one-point lead. The good shooting continued as Marietta would go on to hit their next three shots and the lead would extend to eight, 37-29. The run was fueled by a jumper from
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) and five points from Hefner.
Camille Cummins (MIddlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) putback layup with 22 seconds remaining in the period kept the good fortunes going for Marietta and they took a 42-35 lead going into the final period.
BW's shooting turned cold in the fourth stanza, going 3 of 13 from the field. Marietta extended the lead to 12 at one point, but the Yellow Jackets had one last gasp. Megan Hensel's jumper cut the lead to seven with 2:13 remaining, but that was as close as BW would get. Wilson nailed a three-pointer with less than a minute left, sealing the upset victory. After some final BW free throws, Marietta would claim the victory, winning 59-49.
Hefner led Marietta with 14 points and dished out four assists. Kroft scored 10 points. Hahn scored four points and grabbed nine rebounds.
Erwin paced the Yellow Jackets with a game-high 12 points. Sonneman and Bella Valliant ended with seven points.
Marietta returns home to battle OAC rival Muskingum University this Wednesday (Feb. 1) for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
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.
