GRANVILLE, Ohio – The Marietta College women's basketball team took to the road to participate in the Sara Lee Classic on the campus of Denison University Saturday (Nov. 15) evening.  Despite staying close throughout the Pioneers dropped their day one matchup to Franklin College, 73-67.  With the loss the Pioneers drop to 1-2 overall and the win puts the Grizzlies to 2-1 overall.  

Marietta fell behind quick, 6-0, but battled back with a pair of free throws from Kendall Sury (Waterford, Ohio/Waterford) and a layup from TJ Carpenter (Jackson, Ohio/Jackson) to cut the lead in half.  Later in the quarter, Ava Heller (Thornville, Ohio/Sheridan) buried a jumper and Abby Garner (Macedonia, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) scored from the paint to close in within three points.  Kelsey Harlan (Sardis, Ohio/River) and Emma Rasmussen (Wadsworth, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) scored on consecutive possessions to put the deficit at one, but Peyton Seay's layup in the final seconds gave Franklin a 17-14 lead to close out the first quarter. 

After both teams traded shots to open the second period,  but Franklin extended the lead as Jordan Coon and Molly Schulte scored inside buckets to put the lead at five.   Later, Schulte layed in another pair of shots to give the Grizzlies their biggest advantage yet at 10 points.  Marietta countered with a pair of layups from Amelia Uhrig (Chillicothe, Ohio/Unioto) and kept Franklin off the scoreboard for nearly the final three minutes and trailed 36-31 heading into halftime.
 
Harlan hit a big three point shot at the 7:55 mark of the third quarter to put Marietta down just three, but the Grizzlies then rattled off nine unanswered points to put the score at 47-35.  The Pioneers were able to chip away at the lead as they scored eight points from the paint, the final off of a layup by Peyten Bruns, and found themselves only down by seven entering the final frame ahead.
 
The Pioneers opened the fourth quarter with a layup from Uhrig and, after a big shot from Sury, cut the lead down to three. Garner followed with a pair of free throws and the Grizzly lead by one with 2:44 remaining.  With less than two minutes left, Harlan again scored from inside and Marietta again trailed by one.  That would be as close as they would get for the remainder of the game.  The Pioneers were force to foul to stop the clock and just not overtake the Grizzlies. Marietta would go on to lose, 57-44.  

Marietta was led by Harlan with 17 points, six rebounds , and three assists.  Carpenter came off the bench to provide 12 points.  Uhrig chipped in with 10 points and led the team with three blocked shots.
 
Schulte led all scorers with 19 points for the Grizzlies.
 
 Marietta will have a quick turnaround as they will return to court on Sunday to battle Translyvania University, with a scheduled 1 p.m. tipoff.
 
Fans can follow all of 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.