Sports
Poor Shooting Dooms Lady Pios On Senior Night
By: Clay Benjamin
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Senior day is a time for celebration for the seniors and their families. While the students celebrate, the program thanks the student-athletes for their four years of dedication and commitment.
With the Marietta Pioneers (10-13, 4-12) celebrating senior day against Baldwin Wallace on Saturday, emotions were high and the Pioneers were looking to get their third win at home in 2014.
“We felt prepared and were amped up to play,” senior guard Tori Dixon said. “Paige [Lamb] and I wouldn’t trade this team for the world. Today was a big day for us and I was going in thinking that my last game on Fenton Court with the best team, coaches, friends and family I could ask for and the atmosphere couldn’t have been better.”
With the emotions high and the Lady Pios ready to play, Baldwin Wallace was looking to play spoiler.
It did just that, downing the Pioneers, 82-59.
Marietta was out of the game from the get-go, as Baldwin Wallace opened the game on a 25-8 run.
The hoops inside Ban Johnson Arena seemingly had a lid on them for Marietta as the Pioneers struggled to hit any shots in the first half.
A 3-pointer from Emily Sabatino with 7:43 remaining in the first half cut the Baldwin Wallace’s lead to 12 points. Following the Yellow Jackets 25-8 run, that was as close as the Pioneers would get in the first half. Marietta continued to the struggle from the field for the rest of the half and the Yellow Jackets went into the locker room with their second largest lead of the night, 47-25.
“Baldwin Wallace played very tough and played tight pressure, it hurt us and we just weren’t making shots today,” Dixon said.
Marietta only shot 9 for 29 from the floor in the first, and went 3 for 12 from beyond the arc.
Baldwin Wallace continued its domination in the second half. With 13:33 remaining left in the game, the Yellow Jackets led, 58-35. Marietta’s poor shooting continued and in the first eight minutes of the second half, Marietta shot 5 for 13 from the floor.
Turnovers are usually the Achilles’ heel for the Lady Pios, but they only turned the ball over 11 times throughout the game, down from their average of 16 per game.
Both teams began trading baskets the rest of the way, but the 25-8 run in the first half made all the difference as the Yellow Jackets won in dominating fashion.
The Pioneers have two games left on the docket against Mount Union and John Carroll before the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament begins inside Ban Johnson on Feb. 25.
The Lady Pios will try to bounce back offensively when they travel to Alliance, Ohio, Wednesday to take on the Purple Raiders. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.