19th-ranked Pioneer women rout Blue Streaks, 90-54
MARIETTA — Marietta College had a fun game.
The Pioneers led from start to finish en route to a 90-54 triumph over John Carroll University in Ohio Athletic Conference women’s basketball action at Ban Johnson Arena Saturday afternoon.
“There’s a lot of good stuff on this stat sheet,” said MC second-year head coach Kole Vivian.
Marietta, No. 19 in the D3hoops.com Top 25 poll with a 16-1 overall record (9-1 OAC), extended its winning streak to four. As a team, the Pioneers were 30-of-55 (54.5 percent) from the field.
“We knew that lately we haven’t been playing our best,” said MC junior post Corrie Burkhardt. “This game was a good one for us to pick up our defense, work on our offense — and I think everybody did that and everybody played a part in it.”
Burkhardt, who was two rebounds shy of having double-double at the half, finished with 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. Playing only 18 minutes in the contest, she had a game-high eight boards, three steals and one block.
“I tried,” said Burkhardt of almost posting a double-double. “I owe it to my teammates. They were passing the ball to me.”
Brooke “BB” Borich paced the winners with a game-high 16 points. Amisha Herd added 15 markers, seven assists, five rebounds, five assists, and two blocks. Alexis Enochs chipped in with 12 points and six caroms of the pine, which outpointed JCU 37-19.
“Our bench really picked it up,” Burkhardt said.
Overall, 17 Pioneer cagers saw playing time, and 14 of them scored.
John Carroll (4-13, 2-8) finished with no players scoring in double digits. Sarah Sprecher and Nicole Heffington led the Blue Streaks with nine points apiece, while Abby Adler added eight. Chelbi Graham had a team-high seven rebounds and three steals.
As a team, JCU was 17-57 (29.8 percent) from the floor.
“They’ve got a lot of good players, but a lot of our players stepped up on defense today,” Burkhardt said.
Marietta jumped on John Carroll right after the opening tip-off when Borich drained a triple. That was followed by a Burkhardt bucket and a Herd steal and layup, making it 7-0.
“We had a rough game against Capital last time (Wednesday) where we kind of got down,” Burkhardt said. “We knew we had to set the pace and come out strong early — and keep it up for the rest of the game.”
Vivian agreed.
“We came out with really good energy,” Vivian said. “We had a close one and a big comeback against Capital the other night.
“We had really good ball pressure, and talked about how important the glass was.”
With Burkhardt and Borich each scoring seven points, Marietta led 20-9 at the end of one.
In the second quarter, the rout resumed, and the Pioneers owned a commanding 44-22 advantage at the break. Burkhardt and Borich each had 11 points during first-half action.
After the break, MC outpointed JCU, 34-16, in third, and its lead bulged to 78-38.
Marietta is scheduled to play at Otterbein at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“Next week is going to be a big week for us,” said Vivian, whose Pioneers defeated the Cardinals, 97-74, in the first meeting on Nov. 29, 2017 at the BanJo. “Otterbein has three of the best guards in the league.”