UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team rushed off to big halftime lead, but had to withstand a second half comeback to defeat John Carroll University, 75-66, Saturday (Feb. 4) afternoon in Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball action. The Pioneers improve to 15-6 on the season and 10-4 in the OAC. John Carroll falls to 11-9 overall and 6-7 in conference play.
"This wasn't our best game," said Marietta Head Coach
Kole Vivian said. "Credit JCU for battling the entire game. I thought we had great competitive fight the last 4 minutes of the game."
The two teams battled to a closely played first quarter. The Blues Streaks jumped out to a 5-2 lead when Carman Hueker hit an early three-pointer, but the Pioneers quickly answered with layups from
Madison Cecil (Centerburg, Ohio/Highland) and
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) to take their first lead, 6-5. The next few minutes saw two ties and four lead changes.
Adi Hill's (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) triple at the 3:10 mark gave Marietta a 15-11 advantage, but John Carroll fought back to tie it at 15 and 17. Marietta closed out the quarter scoring the final five points, including a three from
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin), and took a 22-17 lead into the second quarter.
After spotting the Blues Steaks a three pointer to begin the second period, the Pioneers went on an 8-0 run.
Devin Hefner's (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) mid-range jumper and treys from Gribble and Tolson extended the lead to double figures midway through the period. John Carroll got into a bit of foul trouble and the Pioneers took full advantage going 6 of 8 from the line.
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) converted a layup with 1:44 remaining to give Marietta their largest lead at that point, and would eventually take a 40-28 lead into the intermission.
John Carroll got back into the contest with a 23-point third quarter, starting the period with a 5-0 run. The Pioneers struggled throughout the period, only shooting 30-percent from the floor. Ana Ryncarz's three-point with less than three minutes got the Blue Streaks to within three points of the lead, 44-41. Schill answered with a timely shot from downtown get back out to a six-point differential and Marietta led 57-51 going into the final period.
It took almost three minutes for either squad to score in the fourth period, but the Blue Streaks broke the ice as Kaelyn Underwood scored to cut the lead to four. Gribble answered a minute late for the Pioneers with yet another three-pointer. Although John Carroll's shooting went cold, they were still able to cut the lead to two as Maddie Pietrowski sank both of her free throws. On the other end, Hefner's offensive rebound and subsequent jumper pushed the lead back to three. She was also fouled on the play and nailed the bonus free throw to put the score at 63-59. With less than two minutes remaining, Gribble hit a three pointer to extend the lead to nine. John Carroll was forced to foul to stop the clock, but could not get back into the game. Marietta would go on to victory, 75-66.
Gribble finished with 15, all from three-point range. Hefner was perfect from the free throw line (5-5) and finished with 11 points and led with 11 rebounds. Tolson finished with nine points and dished out four assists.
Ryncarz led the Blue Streaks with 14 points. Maddie Pietrowski had a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Marietta travels to Alliance, Ohio this Wednesday (Feb. 8) to battle the University of Mount Union. The tipoff is scheduled for 7 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.
