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Uphill climb falls short for MC women

Marietta College's Payten Bruns (5) drives baseline during the Pioneers' game aginst Ohio Northern, Sunday in Marietta. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

You simply felt if the Marietta College Pioneers could ever wrestle the lead away from Ohio Northern they might be able to pull off a win in Sunday afternoon’s Ohio Athletic Conference women’s basketball showdown at Ban Johnson Arena.

Unfortunately for first-year Pioneer head coach Jenna Anderson and her Pioneers that transfer of the lead would never occur as the Polar Bears downed the Pioneers 70-63.

The Pioneers trailed by six at the end of the opening quarter and trailed by as many as 13 in the second before going on an 8-2 run late in the half to cut the lead to 35-28 at the break.

Marietta did most of their damage at the charity strip as Abby Garner made 3-of-4 and Sophie Nelson a pair in the closing minute of the half.

The Polar Bears got a big game under the basket from 6-foot-1 senior Brooke Allen and her three field goals in the opening minutes of the third quarter which shoved the Polar Bear lead back to nine.

Marietta College's Adi Hill (10) drives against an Ohio Northern defender, Sunday in Marietta. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

The Pios answered with a 7-0 run to close back to within two of Ohio Northern.

A 3-pointer by Nelson got the run started followed by two freebies from Paige Tolson.

Nelson capped the run with a two-pointer but the Bears quickly answered with an 8-1 run of their own with the final two field goals coming from Allen.

The Pioneers closed out the third period with five straight points all coming from Ally Grake and then pulled to within two once again on a two-pointer by Payten Bruns off of an assist from Tolson to open the fourth.

Unfortunately for the Pioneers that would be as close as they would come the rest of the way as Ohio Northern managed to pull out to a lead of 12 points down the stretch before settling for the seven-point win.

Marietta College's Kelsey Harlan (0) slices through the Ohio Northern defense, Sunday in Marietta. (Photo by Mike Morrison)

Ohio Northern improved to 8-5 overall and 4-2 in the OAC with the win.

The Polar Bears got a strong game from Waterford High School grad Mackenzie Suprano who joined three Ohio Northern scorers in double figures with 12 points.

Allen led all scorers with 22 points while Kristin Luersman also scored 12 for Ohio Northern.

Marietta was led by Grake with 16 points while Tolson and Nelson chipped in with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Pioneers slipped to 8-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play and will host Case Western Reserve in a make-up game on Sunday.

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