UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team stopped a two-game skid as they hit the road and defeated John Carroll University, 65-54 Saturday (Jan. 13) afternoon. The Pioneers improve to 10-5 on the season and 5-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. John Carroll falls to 9-6 overall and 4-4 in conference games.
"Playing John Carroll is always a challenge, and that is a credit to their program," Marietta head coach
Kole Vivian said. "Our team did a better job on the glass in the second half, and Schill and Hill made some really big shots. And we ended the game in a big way getting to the foul line and converting."
Congratulations to Coach Vivian as the victory was the 132
nd in his Pioneer coaching career, making him the all-time leader in coaching victories in the Pioneer women's basketball program. His victory passes former long-time Pioneer coaching legend Debbie Lazorik.
Both teams traded shots and leads in the early part of the first quarter.
Makenzie Wilson (Wapakoneta, Ohio/Wapakoneta) converted a pair of layups to give Marietta a quick lead, but Hallie Landies answered with a three-pointer to put JCU in the lead. Later in the quarter,
Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) came off the bench and hit from three-point range to put the Pioneers back in the lead, but Ava Ryncarz's layup would tie it up at 11 at the 4:12 mark. Marietta began to extend the lead with consecutive buckets, putting the differential at six with
Hannah Schill's (Rootstown, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) driving layup with two minutes remaining.
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) finished the quarter with a shot from the paint and the Pioneers led 25-18 going into the second quarter.
Nearly a minute of game time elapsed in the second quarter before either team could score, but
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) put in the first two points of the second. After that, both teams went through a four-minute long scoring drought that was ended eventually by
Kelly Levering's (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy Liberty) layup with 4:47 remaining in the half. Both teams continued to struggle but
Olivia Gribble (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) ended the with a high note, delivering a three-pointer in the closing seconds and giving the Pioneers a 36-26 lead into intermission.
The Blue Streaks cut into the lead as the third period began as Maddie Pietrowski scored a layup and Carman Hueker hit 1-of-2 from the free throw line. Two minutes later, Schill hot from beyond the arc to extend the lead back out to 10. Later, a 4-0 Blue Streak run was answered with a trey from Hill and the Pioneer lead was at 42-34. Gribble hit another three-pointer at the 1:37 mark and, after both teams traded points from the free throw line, Schill capped of the quarter with a layup. The Pioneers led 51-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Blue Streaks mounted an 8-0 comeback run in the fourth quarter, fueled by six points from Ryncarz, and Marietta's lead was at six with 4:51 remaining. Levering stopped the JCU momentum with a jumper and Schill hit another three to extend the lead to eight. The Blue streaks got as close as five when Ryncarz scored on a hook shot, but was forced to foul to stop the clock. Marietta went 6-of-6 from the free throw line to close out the contest and would go on to win the game, 65-54.
Schill led the Pioneers with 15 points and Gribble finished with 12 points. Grake led with eight rebounds and
Sophia Murray (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) dished out four assists.
Pietrowski and Ryncarz led all scorers as they both scored 18 for the Blue Streaks. Ryncarz finished with a double-double as she collected 11 rebounds.
Marietta will return to the Ban Johnson Arena this Wednesday (Jan. 17) evening and will host the University of Mount Union for another OAC clash. Scheduled tip-off will be at 7:00 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 X and Instagram.
