COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 5 seeded Marietta College women's basketball team took to the road as they had to battle No. 4 seeded Capital University in the quarterfinal round of the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament Tuesday (Feb. 25) evening. After a quick Pioneer start, the Comets would take control, thanks to a big performance from OAC Player of the Year Bri O'Connor, and would cruise to a 70-55 victory.

"We fought until the end tonight, I'm proud of how we kept our heads and played together in the second half," said Marietta head coach Jenna Andersen.  "It's a tough way for our seniors to go out on a loss but only one team in the country gets to win their last game."
 
Marietta jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead as Adi Hill (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) scored on a driving layup and Ella McMillen (Shreve, Ohio/West Holmes) hit from three-point range.   Paige Tolson (Guysville, Ohio/Federal Hocking) and Ally Grake (Morrow, Ohio/Little Miami) followed with driving layups and the Pioneers led by seven at the 6:09 mark.  Two minutes later, Bri O'Connor hit the first shot from the floor for the Comets and then followed with a pair of free throws on the next possession to get Capital to within four points.  Sophia Murray (Rocky River, Ohio/Rocky River) and Amelia Uhrig (Chillicothe, Ohio/Unioto) came off the bench to provide a layup apiece and the Pioneers led 14-11 heading into the second quarter.

After Murray opened the second period with a three-pointer, Capital answered with a 12-0 run, fueled by seven points from O'Connor.  Hill briefly stopped the rally with a three-pointer.  Later in the quarter, Hannah Kroft (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) scored a layup and Sophie Nelson (Parkersburg, W.Va./Ritchie County) followed with a three-pointer to cut the deficit to two, but the Comets closed out the half with a pair of treys  and took a 35-28 going into the intermission.
 
The Pioneers got the first bucket of the second half as Hill nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to four.  O'Connor answered with a pair of layups and Laney Murphy nailed a triple to extend the lead to 44-33.  Tolson tried to keep the Pioneers close as she scored a couple of layups, cutting the lead to eight.  That would be as close as they would get for the remainder of the period as Capital closed out on a 7-2 run and took a 55-41 advantage in the final period.
 
Hill and Grake each scored a basket to start the fourth period to get the deficit to 10 points, but the Pioneers could not overcome the difference.  O'Connor got the Comets their first points of the quarter with a three-pointer and finished the quarter with a pair of free throws and the Comets would cruise to a 70-55 victory.

Hill led the Pioneers with 14 points and Murray finished with 11 points. Tolson scored eight points and also led the Pioneers with three assists and three steals.  
 
O'Connor led the Comets with a game-high 35 points and Murphy provided 12 points on four three-pointers.  Samaree Perkins scored 11 points and led the Comets with 13 rebounds. 

Marietta finishes the season with a 15-11 record.

"We learned a lot about ourselves this season," concluded Coach Andersen.  "I don't think many people realized how young and inexperienced we were to start the season. We had to replace 4 out of our 5 starters and had brand new people coming off the bench. The growth we had from game 1 to game 26 was amazing to see. I'm am very sad to be losing our seniors but very excited about the future." 

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.