MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College women's basketball team put together a strong second half of defense and went on to knock off #17-ranked Carnegie Mellon University, 73-63, in the final matchup of the 39th annual Jim Meagle Holiday Classic, sponsored by BSN Sports. With the win, Marietta improves to 2-4 overall and the loss drops the Tartans to 2-2 overall.
"I am so incredibly proud of this group," said Marietta Head Coach
Jenna Andersen. "We have faced some really tough competition in our first 6 games, and things haven't always gone our way. I think tonight showed a lot about the determination and resiliency of our team. We kept fighting and were able to get a big team win together."
The Tartans struck first as Aleena Dinker hit a three-pointer on their first possession, but the Pioneers immediately answered as
Kendall Sury (Waterford, Ohio/Waterford) scored on a mid-range jumper. Sury again scored on the next Pioneer possession to cut the lead to one and, after a CMU turnover, took the lead on a driving layup from
Kelsey Harlan (Sardis, Ohio/River). The Tartans regained the lead on a 5-0 run. Later in the quarter,
Emma Rasmussen (Wadsworth, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) nailed a jumper to tie the game at 13 and then again hit from three-point range to give the Pioneers a 18-16 lead with 0:42 left. Neither team managed another point as the Pioneers led going into the second quarter.
Marietta opened the second period with a bucket from
Kayla Peterson (Independence, Ky./Scott), but was held scoreless for the next four minutes. During that span, Carnegie Mellon went on a 13-1 run to retake the lead. After a three-pointer from Dinker at the 2:09 mark, the Tartans held a 32-22 advantage over the Pioneers. Marietta answered with a trey from Harlan and trailed CMU by seven going into the intermission.
Marietta regained some momentum in the third quarter. Harlan's driving layup at the 7:50 mark triggered an 11-0 run, which also included five points from Sury, to give the Pioneers a three-point lead. CMU answered with a pair of baskets to jump back into the lead, but
TJ Carpenter (Jackson, Ohio/Jackson) scored a layup to tie back up at 41-all. After some traded shots, both teams were deadlocked at 45 entering into the final frame.
The Pioneers put together a strong showing in a crucial fourth quarter.
Amelia Uhrig (Chillicothe, Ohio/Unioto) scored a layup and Rasmussen hit from three-point range to give Marietta a four-point lead. The Tartans got into some early foul trouble, which sent Marietta to the line for bonus free throws. After struggling from the line for much of the game, the Pioneers hit six consecutive clutch free throws to keep the lead. Harlan hit a big three-pointer at the 3:40 mark to push the lead to four. Late in the game, the Tartans went cold from the field and was forced to foul to stop the clock. The Pioneers calmly hit 8-of-10 from the line and led by 12 with 1:09 remaining. CMU could not make up the difference and Marietta would go on to complete the upset, 73-63.
Marietta was led by Harlan with 25 points, on her way to claiming the Lisa Wagner Most Valuable Player award for the weekend. Rasmussen finished with 13 points. Carpenter was also named to the All-Tournament team and finished the contest with four points and nine rebounds.
Nicole Timko led the Tartans with 16 points and was named to the All-Tournament team.
In the earlier game, #7 SUNY Cortland rebounded from their defeat the day prior to beat #25 Washington & Jefferson College, 74-62. In addition to the Marietta and CMU players, Joleen Lusk from the Red Dragons and Stellanie Loutsion and Riley DeRubbo from W&J were named to the all-tournament team.
Marietta will return to the court Wednesday (Nov. 26) when they travel to Mount St. Joseph for a pre-Thanksgiving Day matchup with tip off scheduled for 7 p.m.
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.
