MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team put on a defensive clinic and, with the help of dominating second quarter, defeated Wilmington College 64-52 Saturday (Feb. 11) afternoon. Marietta, winners of its last five games, improves to 17-6 overall and 12-4 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Wilmington falls to 13-10 on the season and 7-9 in the OAC.
"The ladies that play at the top of the zone are really good ball hawks," said Marietta head coach
Kole Vivian. "Our pressure gave them a tough time getting into a rhythm on offense. We deflected passes and (Erin) Hahn kept them to one shot. This is a special group and they played well today."
The two teams battled through a closely played first quarter with the lead changing seven times. After Kennedy Lewis scored the first basket of the game,
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) answered with a three from the left corner to give the Pioneers their first lead.
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) scored consecutive buckets to push the lead to three with less than four minutes in the quarter.
Camille Cummins' (MIddlefield, Ohio/Cardinal) jumper from the paint closed out the scoring for the period and the Pioneers took a 14-13 lead into the second quarter.
The Pioneers went on an 10-0 run to begin the second quarter, spurred on by five points from
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) and five points from
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville), to lead 24-13 with six minutes remaining in the half. The Pioneer defense stared to click, as well, as
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) registered two steals and
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) blocked two shots. Wilmington scored just seven points in the second quarter, shooting 3 of 18 from the field.
Devin Hefner's (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) driving layup with less than two minutes in the half gave the Pioneers a 16-point lead. Gribble nailed a three-pointer in the closing seconds and the Pioneers led 36-20 at halftime.
The Pioneers gradually extended its lead in the third quarter. Schill took a great pass from
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) and hit from the perimeter to extend the lead to 18 and Grake scored on a driving layup on the next possession to put the score at 48-28. Hahn closed out the period with a layup and the Pioneers would lead by 21 points going into in the fourth quarter. Wilmington attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter but simply ran out of time and Pioneers would cruise to victory.
Hahn recorded her fifth double-double of the season finishing with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Gribble added nine points and grabbed six rebounds. Kroft also added nine points. Schill led with three steals and Wilson ended with three blocked shots.
Wilmington's Jada Pohlen and Zahrya Bailey tied with a team leading 11 points.
Marietta hosts Capital University on Wednesday (Feb. 15) for a 7 p.m. game at the Ban Johnson Arena.
Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollegeand @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
