Sports
Marietta Women Hold Off Muskingum
By: Clay Benjamin
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Marietta women's basketball got its third victory of 2014 Thursday night, topping the Fighting Muskies from Muskingum inside Ban Johnson Arena 82-73.
With the victory, Marietta gets back to .500 on the season and 4-9 in OAC play.
The clash between the two teams was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but to the bad weather conditions, the game was pushed back a day.
“That extra day really helped us because it gave us one more day of preparation,” senior guard Paige Lamb said. “With that extra day of preparation we are able to tune the little details that we will be using in the game.”
“The extra day gave us another day to work on the little stuff that we didn’t have the chance to pay attention to before,” senior guard Tori Dixon stated. “We came prepared and had a really strong practice and it carried over to tonight.”
Marietta has had a disappointing 2014 thus far, winning only two of their eight games in the New Year.
Thursday’s contest got off to a slow and sloppy start we are becoming to expect from games that involve these Lady Pios. Stellar defense, bad passing and turnovers were characteristic of the first five and half minutes of play. With 14:27 left until half, Marietta held a slim 12-10 lead.
Then the dog fight began.
A Jessica Brogan layup with gave Marietta their largest lead of the first half 23-15 with 10:31 remaining.
Jasmine Casper capped a 10-4 run by the Fighting Muskies to cut the Pioneer lead to 4 with just under five minutes remaining before halftime.
Marietta was able to keep the Fighting Muskies at bay and take a 36-32 lead into the locker room.
Both teams continued to trade baskets to open the second half, but Marietta was able to extend their lead to nine after a three-pointer from Jordanna Rauch with 12:17 left to play.
Muskingum stopped the Pioneers from extending their lead by hitting 3’s when they needed to. The Fighting Muskies hit nine 3’s for the game, with six coming in the second half.
The Pioneers held their largest lead of the game after Brogan hit two free throws with less than three minutes remaining in the game; Marietta led 76-61.
Tori Jarrett led all Muskingum players with 15 points while grabbing four rebounds. Taylor Maurer had a big night coming off the bench, adding 15 points and pulling down five rebounds. Gabbi Davis had 9 points and a team high 10 boards.
Dixon had a big night for the Pioneers, leading all scorers with 17 points and adding four rebounds and three assists. Candice Alexander fell one rebound short of a double-double. She had 15 points and 9 rebounds on the night. Brogan and Morgan Liedtke added 13 and 12 points respectively to boost the Pioneers.
Heidelberg, Capital and Baldwin-Wallace will all visit Marietta in the next week, as the Lady Pio’s prepare for OAC Tournament play.
Marietta will look to improve its standing Saturday against Heidelberg inside Ban Johnson Arena. Tip-off is set for 1 p.m.