UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio — After a first half lead, the Marietta College women's basketball team faded in the second half and dropped their first road game of the season as they were defeated by John Carroll University, 70-61, Saturday (Dec. 14) afternoon. The Pioneers fall to 5-2 on the season and 1-1 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. John Carroll improves to 7-1 overall and 2-1 in conference games.
"We have to be a tougher team," Marietta head coach
Jenna Andersen said. "I don't think we gave our best effort on the defensive end of the floor today and it showed. This is a game we can take a lot from and learn from it."
Marietta jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first period, as
Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) and
Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) both hit perimeter shots. The Blue Streaks missed their first seven shots during the nearly five-minute scoring drought. The Pioneers returned the favor as they were kept scoreless for much of the remainder of the period, allowing John Carroll to come back and briefly take an 7-6 lead.
Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) broke the drought with a three-pointer and Hill scored a jumper from inside the paint and the Pioneers led 11-7 going into the second quarter.
Tolson and Hill got Marietta moving in the second period as they poured in a combined 10 points, slowly extending the advantage to 10 points at the 7:23 mark. John Carroll slowed the Pioneer momentum over the next three minutes as they went on a 7-0 run, cutting the lead to 21-18.
Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) put Marietta back on the board with an offensive rebound and put back layup. The Streaks immediately answered with a three pointer from Ava Ryncarz to cut the lead to two. With less than two minutes in the half, John Carroll converted a missed Pioneer jumper into a fast break layup on the other and tied the contest at 27.
Kelsey Harlan (Sardis, Ohio/River) immediately answered with a three pointer and the Pioneers took a 32-29 lead into intermission.
The Pioneers the extended the lead as they went on a 9-2 run to begin the third quarter. Hill and Grake hit consecutive treys to close out the run. John Carroll begin to chip away at the lead, going on a 13-5 run over the next four minutes. All five of those Pioneer points came from the free throw line. Ryncarz hit a jumper at the 1:07 mark to tie the contest and followed with a three-pointer in the closing seconds to give the Blue Streaks a 49-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The Blue Streaks went on a 7-2 run to begin the fourth quarter as the Pioneer missed six of their first seven shots. Harlan hit from three-point range at the 3:18 mark to cut the lead to 56-51. The Pioneers started to get a few more shots to fall but were forced to foul to stop the clock. John Carroll closed out the game hitting 8-of-10 from the line and the Pioneers just could not overcome the deficit. Marietta would go on to lose the game, 70-61.
Hill led the Pioneers with 20 points and collected seven rebounds. Tolson finished with 11 points. Kroft registered a double-double, scoring 10 and leading the Pioneers with 12 rebounds. Grake dished out five assists and
Amelia Uhrig (Chillicothe, Ohio/Unioto) led Marietta with three blocked shots.
Ryncarz finished with a double-double for the Blue Streaks as she totaled 23 points and 12 rebounds. Graci Semptimphelter finished with 10 points.
Marietta will return to the Ban Johnson Arena this Wednesday (Dec. 18) evening and will host the Washington and Jefferson College. 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.
