ALLIANCE, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team rebounded from a poor shooting first quarter to dominate for the rest of the half, cruising to victory over Mount Union, 56-44, Wednesday (Feb. 8) night in Ohio Athletic Conference women's basketball action.
Marietta improves to 16-6 on the season and 11-4 in the OAC. The Purple Raiders fall to 6-16 overall and 3-12 in conference games.
Marietta got off to rough start as they were 3 of 16 shooting in the first period, resulting in only nine points. Mount Union got off to a 6-0 lead after Audrey Livesay hit from three-point range just three minutes into the contest. The Pioneers finally answered with their first points, a trey from
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking), to cut the lead in half. The two teams traded three-point shots again later in the quarter as
Hannah Schill (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) hit from the perimeter, only to be answered by Ali Hudik, extending the Purple Raider lead to five. A layup from Emma Cannon with 43 seconds left in the quarter gave Mount Union a 16-9 lead and that's what the score would be going into the second stanza.
Marietta not only improved their shooting into the second quarter, but their defense stifled the Purple Raiders and limited them to shooting only 2 of 11 from the field.
Erin Hahn (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) and
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) hit early from three-point range to cut the lead and
Makenzie Wilson's (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) mid-range jumper at the 6:20 mark tied it at 20. Marietta finished the half on a 15-0 run, fueled by three layups from Hahn, and the Pioneers took a 31-20 lead into intermission.
Marietta scored the first four points of the second half and kept Mount Union off the board for the first six minutes of the third period. Makayla Dunkle's jumper from the paint temporarily stopped the momentum, but Gribble answered with yet another shot from downtown and Marietta had their biggest lead of the game, 16 points.
Adi Hill's (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) triple in the final minute finished the third quarter scoring and Marietta led 45-27 going into the final period.
Mount Union finally put together a good quarter as Cannon and Dae Dae Nash finally got some shots to fall, but it was not enough to overcome the deficit and the Pioneers completed the season sweep, earning a 56-44 victory.
Tolson and Gribble finished with 10 points. Hahn scored nine points and led the Pioneers with 13 rebounds and four steals. Schill finished with six points and three assists.
Cannon and Nash led the Purple Raider with eight points apiece. Nash also tied for the team lead in rebounds, seven, with Madison Hensley.
Marietta returns home for Winter Weekend this Saturday (Feb. 11) to host Wilmington. Tip-off in Ban Johnson Arena is set for 1 p.m.
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.
