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Capital punishment: Pioneers swept

The shots just weren’t falling in the first half for Marietta College Wednesday night.

The Lady Pioneers were just 9-for-30 (30 percent) from the floor in the opening half while visiting Capital knocked down 49 percent (17-of-35) of its first half shots to build a 42-30 halftime lead.

From there, the Crusaders were able to keep Marietta from getting within striking distance as they went on to win 80-59 in an Ohio Athletic Conference matchup at Ban Johnson Arena.

The Lady Pios were able to create some favorable shot opportunities early on in the first half but were not able to get all of them to fall through the hoop.

“We were getting great looks out of our offense,” said MC head coach Stacia Shrider. “We were getting the shots that we wanted, even layups, and we couldn’t convert on them.”

Capital jumped out to a 12-4 lead with just under eight minutes into the contest.

The Pioneers finally got going somewhat offensively as an 11-3 run, capped by a Paige Lamb layup off a nice feed from Sierra Sigman, tied the game at 15-all.

After Capital’s Jamie Caton answered with a jumper, Sigman converted a 3-point play on the other end to give Marietta its only lead of the contest, 18-17.

The Crusaders promptly responded with a 9-0 run to go back on top 26-18.

Early in the second half, Simmone Gage hit a 3-pointer to stretch the Capital advantage to 15, 47-32.

Heather Booth, Lamb and Emily Sabatino all made 2-point field goals to trim the deficit to nine.

The teams traded blows until, with the score at 60-49, Capital went on a 9-2 run to make the score 69-51 with 7:22 remaining. It only got worse from there for MC.

The inability to get a stop defensively had Shrider frustrated.

“We had a big lack of pride on the defensive end,” she said. “We couldn’t stop anybody. We were out of position defensively. I’m just very disappointed with our lack of pride tonight, especially on the defensive end.”

Lauren Stefancin had a game-high 16 points off the bench for Capital Wednesday, while four out of five of the Crusaders’ starters were in double figures as well. Cookie Geroski scored 12, Gage and Monica Heckman each had 11 while Caton added 10.

Tori Dixon led Marietta with 11. Sigman and Booth each tallied 10 for the Pioneers.

The two teams were almost equal on the boards, with Capital holding a slight 43-41 advantage.

After committing six turnovers in the first half, the Crusaders gave possession away just once in the second half while forcing 16 Marietta miscues overall.

The Lady Pioneers, having lost eight of their last 10 games, dropped to 10-12 overall and 4-11 in the OAC. They are currently in a 3-way tie for the seventh place in the OAC with Heidelberg and Muskingum. The top eight teams make the OAC Tournament.

Capital improved to 14-7 overall and 11-4 in the conference.

Marietta’s next game will be Saturday when it hosts Baldwin Wallace at 3 p.m.

Men

Capital 75,

Marietta 55

COLUMBUS – Marietta College dropped a 75-55 decision at Capital University Wednesday evening. With the loss, the Pioneers now trail Ohio Athletic Conference leader Mount Union by two games in the league standings.

Marietta is currently 17-5 overall and 12-3 in the OAC. Mount Union sits atop the standings with a 14-1 OAC record.

Capital (10-12 overall, 7-8 OAC) controlled the game from the opening tip. Marietta struggled from the floor in the first half and was ice cold from three-point range all night. The Pioneers shot just 28.1% from the floor in the opening period and trailed the Crusaders 39-26 at the break.

Marietta warmed up a little in the second half, but the lack of three-pointers prevented the Pioneers from making up halftime deficit. Capital dominated the boards, 44-28, allowing Marietta just six second-chance points in the game.

Only two Pioneers reached double figures in scoring. Luis Garcia led Marietta with 18 points off the bench. RaNeal Ewing finished with 12 points. AJ Dixon, who drained a half-court three-pointer at the buzzer before halftime, led Capital with 15 points. Curt Geise and Andrew Bolka each scored 14 points. Bolka had a double-double with 11 rebounds. Ben Jackson grabbed a game-high 12 boards for the Crusaders.

For the game, Marietta shot 33.9 percent (20-of-59) from the floor, 13.6 percent (3-of-22) from three-point range, and 80.0 percent (12-of-15) at the line. Capital was 27-of-54 (50.0 percent) from the floor, 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) behind the arc, 15-of-22 (68.2 percent) at the line.

Marietta travels to Baldwin Wallace University Saturday for a 3 p.m. game.

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