ZANESVILLE - Marietta High suffered its first setback of the season, dropping a 50-40 decision to host Rosecrans in East Central Ohio League girls' basketball action at Rogge Gymnasium Saturday night.
Erica Dawson paced MHS (5-1), which managed just one basket in the final three minutes of play, with a game-high 36 points. Only one other Lady Tiger scored after halftime.
Rosecrans converted 10-of-14 from the foul line in the final 2:33 and leaned on a stingy defense to seal the victory.
Dawson kept her team in the contest with five straight points midway through the fourth quarter to get Marietta within 37-36.
But the Lady Bishops finished the game on a 13-4 run, as they held the Tigers scoreless on five straight possessions in the final 2:57.
Dawson attempted all of her team's shots in the fourth.
Fact Box
Rosecrans 50, Marietta 40
Marietta 10 8 13 9 - 40
Rosecrans 13 9 13 15 - 50
Marietta (5-1)
Bonar 0 0-0 0, Walsh 0 0-0 0, Barton 0 0-0 0, T. Smith 0 0-0 0, Weppler 0 0-0 0, Dawson 15 3-5 36, Cozzens 1 0-1 2, Moore 1 0-2 2, Johnson 0 0-0 0, TOTALS 14-43 3-8 40. 3-point goals: Dawson 3.
Rosecrans (3-1, 6-1)
Madison Chandler 4 2-4 10, Kloie Johnson 4 4-4 15, Alexis Kirkbride 1 3-4 6, Molly Nash 6 3-8 16, Jess Smith 0 1-2 1, Samantha Swackhammer 1 0-0 2, TOTALS 11-36 14-22 50. 3-point goals: Johnson 3, Kirkbride, Nash 1.
Rebounds: Marietta 22 (Dawson 5), Rosecrans 27 (Chandler 9). Turnovers: Marietta 16, Rosecrans 17.
"Alexis (Kirkbride) did a great job on her," junior Molly Nash said. "Her scoring is going to be inevitable because she's so good, but I thought (Alexis) did a good job of keeping her from getting a lot of easy shots."
Rosecrans put three players in double figures as Nash had 16 points, Kloie Johnson 15 and Maddie Chandler 10. Johnson hit a trio of threes.
It was a nice rebound effort after a tough loss at River View on Wednesday, but Bishops coach Gale Kirkbride thinks his team has more to offer.
"I know they can play better," Kirkbride said. "I've seen them play better than they have this year so far. I see glimpses, but I don't think they've reached their potential yet. Hopefully we'll see that as the season goes on."
Rosecrans started fast with a 9-4 lead and had an eight-point lead in the second, but 10 second-quarter turnovers and timely Dawson baskets kept Marietta in the game.
Rosecrans led 22-18 at halftime, but Dawson put up nine points in the first 2:25 of the second half to send her team ahead 29-28.
But Marietta was one-of-eight from the field the rest of the quarter, while Rosecrans got big threes from Nash and Kirkbride to lead 35-31 entering the fourth.
Marietta never led again.
"We made too many mental mistakes on defense," Marietta coach Scott Cozzens said. "Defensively we broke down too many times and it hurt us."
Cozzens, whose team played 2-3 zone defense until the final minute, said his team got away from what worked offensively most of the game.
"We stopped running our offense," Cozzens said. "When we ran offense we got great looks. We just chose not to for some reason."
Marietta is scheduled to play in a Holiday Tournament Wednesday, TBA
