MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team welcomed in #10-ranked Baldwin Wallace University to the Ban Johnson Arena on Saturday (Jan. 31) afternoon and, despite a much improved performance in the second half, the Pioneers could not recover from a first half where they were outshot and out rebounded, dropping a home OAC contest, 89-66, to the Yellow Jackets.  The loss put the Pioneers with an overall record of 10-10 overall and 5-6 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Baldwin Wallace improves to 18-2 on the season and  perfect 11-0 in conference games.

"We're not a team that gives up," said Marietta head coach Jenna Andersen. "BW shot over 70% and they outr ebounded us by 10 in the first half.  I told them that we're not going to let them run us over.  I'm proud of the effort they showed in the second half.  We fought tooth and nail and tried to get back into this thing, but we let a good team get out to a great start.  We just could not recover." 
  
The Pioneers began the game with a couple of baskets from Ava Heller (Thornville, Ohio/Sheridan) to help push them to a 5-2 lead.  The Yellow Jackets answered with a 15-0 run, getting four points from Brooke Thompson and a pair of three pointers from Kaycie Badylak, to take early control.    Kelsey Harlan (Sardis, Ohio/River) hit a pair of shots to help try to keep the Pioneers close, but Marietta was held scoreless for the final two minutes of the period.  Baldwin Wallace closed out with a 5-0 run in a quarter where they shot 71.4% (5-for-7) from the field and led 29-13 at the end of the first quarter.
 
The Yellow Jackets widened the gap in the second quarter as Marietta shot only 4-for-15 in the second period.  The Pioneers did go 7-for-8 from the free throw line to stay above water.  Amelia Uhrig (Chillicothe, Ohio/Unioto) scored first in the quarter but Baldwin Wallace answered with a 7-0 run.  Kendall Sury (Waterford, Ohio/Waterford) completed a three-point play at the 4:42 mark to stop the run.  Abby Garner (Macedonia, Ohio/Walsh Jesuit) stepped up and scored nine of Marietta's final 10 points, but the Yellow Jackets still held a big lead, 50-28, going into intermission.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The Pioneers put together a much better third quarter but could not cut into the Yellow Jacket advantage.  After giving up the first five points, Marietta got tough layups from Heller, Garner, and Emma Rasmussen (Wadsworth, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) to go on a mini 6-0 run.  Late in the period, TJ Carpenter (Jackson, Ohio/Jackson) scored a basket and bonus free throw to keep the deficit at 24 and Tess Trimble (Maineville, Ohio/Little Miami) came off the bench to bury a three pointer in the closing seconds to put the score at 69-46 going into the final period.
 
Marietta got a three-pointer from Heller and a couple of shots from Ella McMillen (Shreve, Ohio/West Holmes) in the fourth quarter, but despite a 11-2 Pioneer run to end the game, the deficit was too much to overcome.  The Yellow Jackets cruised to an 89-66 victory.

Garner led Marietta with 14 points and six rebounds.  Heller finished with 12 points.
 
Badylak and Leah Riley paced the Yellow Jackets with a game-high 15 points apiece.

Marietta will travel to Otterbein University this Wednesday (Feb. 4) for an OAC matchup, with a scheduled 7 p.m. tip-off.

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.