Turkey shoot at MC Saturday
By Bill Robinson, Special to The TimesMarietta College's women's basketball team hopes the friendly confines of Fenton Court will be a boost in the 25th annual Jim Meagle Turkey Shoot which opens Saturday.
The Pioneers opened their season last weekend in Pittsburgh with a 69-61 loss to host Carnegie Mellon and a 72-39 defeat by Case Western Reserve in the Ohio Conference-Association of American University Challege.
Marietta takes on Oberlin (0-2) of the North Coast Conference at 8 p.m. Saturday following a 6 p.m. clash between Mount St. Joseph (2-2) of the Hoosier Conference and Thiel (Pa.) (1-2) of the Presidents Conference. The consolation game is at 1 p.m. and the championship contest at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Thiel is the only visiting team which is a previous particpant.
The Tomcats lost to Denison in the 2007 finals. Marietta, which lost to Allegheny (Pa.), in last year's title clash, has won the tournament 11 times, the last time in 2003, downing Wooster.
Freshman post Aleisha Guiler of Lower Salem (Monroe Central High) has been Marietta's big scorer, averaging 16.5 points.
She won all-tourney honors at Carnegie Mellon. Team captain and senior wing Whitey Swain of Belpre (Warren High) is averaging nine points.
Marietta will be trying to improve its 27-turnover average and 32 percent shooting average from the field, certainly a must in the upcoming tough Ohio Athletic Conference schedule which begins Wednesday here against Mount Union.
Oberlin has lost to Bluffton 70-50 and St. Mary's (Ind.) 74-37 and the Yeowomen have had shooting and turnover problems, too. They're shooting only 29 percent and are averaging 30 turnovers.
Oberlin's leading scorers are 5-5 junior guard Syrea Thomas and 5-4 freshman guard Allison Anderson, both averaging 10 points.
Mount St. Joseph (2-2) has downed Hiram 84-72 and Bethany (W. Va.) 68-67 and lost to the University of Cumberlands (Ky.) 83-56 and Spalding (Ky.) 71-65.
The Lions bring the best shooting percentage (44) into the tournament but are also plagued by turnovers, averaging 27. Top scorers are 6-0 sophomore forward Chelsea Drake (12 ppg) and 5-10 sophomore forward Katie Jo Coillins (10.5 ppg).
Thiel (1-2) has beaten LaRoche (Pa.) 57-35 and lost to Carlow (Pa.) 63-57 and NCAA Division II Edinboro (Pa.) 95-47.
The Tomcats are shooting 34 percent from the floor and average 27 turnovers. They were only averaging 17 turnovers before suffering 48 in the loss to Edinboro. Kelly Barzak, a 6-1 freshman forward, leads the scoring, averaging 14 points.
