WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Marietta College women's basketball team trailed Wilmington College by as much as 17 points at one point before taking the lead in the final seconds, earning a thrilling come from behind road victory over the Quakers, 66-63 on Saturday (Jan 7) evening. The win improves the Pioneers record to 9-4 overall and 4-2 in the Ohio Athletic Conference and the loss drops the Quakers to 8-5 overall and 2-4 in OAC action.
"It felt really good to win a close game like that down the stretch," said Head Coach
Kole Vivian. "Being down four with about a minute left, we were able to get to the foul line a few times, and Devin made a huge pass to Olivia for that 3pt shot. Nice to leave Wilmington with a big road OAC win."
The Quakers and Pioneers traded baskets for the first few minutes as
Devin Hefner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) scored a couple of buckets and
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) had a layup. With the score tied at six, Wilmington's Jada Poulen canned a three-pointer to give the Quakers a 9-6 lead at the 6:38 mark. Another shot from beyond the arc extended the lead to six for Wilmington, but Marietta would go on a seven-point run to retake the lead.
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) would hit a three-pointer and convert a layup in the run and
Adi Hill's (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) jumper gave them the lead, 13-12. That would be the final points for the Pioneers in the quarter as Wilmington would go on a 10-0 run to close out the final three minutes of the first period. The Quakers would take a 22-13 lead into the next quarter.
The Quaker scoring run would continue into the second period as they put up six more points to extended their lead to 28-13.
Camille Cummins (MIddlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) briefly stopped the momentum with a jumper at the 6:37 mark but Wilmington pushed the lead to 32-17 with Kennedy Lewis's layup with a little over five minutes remaining in the half. Marietta would get themselves back into the game as the would close out the half on a 20-6 run.
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) got a great assist from
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) and converted a layup to start the run and would go on to score twice more before the half. Hahn would score another layup, Hill would hit from downtown, and
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) closed the period with five points. Even with the comeback, the Pioneers trailed 36-33 at the intermission.
The Quakers opened the third quarter on a 5-0 run to extend the Wilmington lead to 41-33, two minutes into the quarter. The Pioneers halted the run with Hefner's driving layup. After a Wilmington bucket, Marietta scored the next seven points on a Gribble triple and four points from
Kelly Levering (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) to cut the lead to one point. The Quakers would answer with a seven-point run of their own to push the lead back out to eight. Wilson converted a layup with under 90 seconds to play and the third period would end with Wilmington leading 50-44.
The Quakers put the lead at nine with an early fourth quarter three-pointer from Elise Carpenter and would go on to trade baskets with the Pioneers over the next two minutes. Schill scored a layup to cut the lead to six and Tolson scored a layup and bonus free throw to cut the lead to three. At the two-minute mark, Hefner scored a layup and the Pioneers only found themselves down one point. With less than a minute, Hefner found Gribble on the perimeter and Olivia nailed the shot to put the Pioneers in the lead, 64-63. Wilmington could not score in their final two possessions and Marietta completed the comeback won the game, 66-63.
The Pioneers were led by Gribble with 14 points, none bigger than the three points that put Marietta in the lead for the only time in the game. Wilson finished with 10 points, three rebounds, and for assists. Schill provided an important spark with 8 points. Hahn pitched in with 5 points, pulled down four rebounds, and also dished out four assists.
Marietta will return to the court Wednesday (Jan 11) when they host the University of Mount Union, with tip off scheduled for 7 p.m.
Fans can follow all of 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.
