WESTERVILLE — The Marietta College women’s basketball team was in action Wednesday when they traveled to battle Otterbein University.

The Pioneers were defeated by the Cardinals 78-72. With the loss Marietta falls to 11-7 overall and 6-5 in Ohio Athletic Conference action and with the win Otterbein improves to 11-7 overall and 7-4 in OAC play.

Head coach Kole Vivian said, “We did a lot of good things, but we had a hard time rebounding at crucial times. Between rebounding and turnovers, Otterbein had 13 more possessions than us, and every possessions is important in this league.”

The first quarter opened when the Pioneers notched an early 5-1 lead behind an old fashioned three point play from Bailee Brooks and a layup from Shay Lett. The Cardinals answered with a 9-0 run to take a 10-5 edge three minutes into the game. After Otterbein held a 12-7 edge, Marietta battled back with a 6-0 run to take a 13-12 advantage. The run was started by a Marlo Taylor layup and capped by a three from Cheyenne Barker. The teams swapped baskets to end the quarter and the Cardinals led, 20-16 to enter the second quarter.

The second quarter opened as the teams traded buckets, and Otterbein maintained a 31-26 edge with four minutes to play in the quarter. The Pioneers battled for the remainder of the half and a pair of Corrie Burkhardt foul shots late in the second quarter trimmed the Cardinals lead to 37-31 at the intermission.

Otterbein was able to stretch out a 46-34 advantage at the 7:34 mark of the third quarter, which forced a Marietta timeout. Out of the timeout, a 6-0 run by the Pioneers trimmed the Cardinals lead to 46-40. The run was highlighted by a pair of layups from Alexis Enochs. Otterbein was able to maintain its edge and entered the fourth quarter ahead 57-50.

Marietta opened the fourth quarter with back to back buckets by Jo Herd-Middlebrooks to cut the Cardinals lead to 57-54 early in the final frame. The teams traded baskets for a majority of the fourth quarter, and the Cardinals led 67-61 with three minutes to play in the fourth quarter. The Pioneers ended the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 67-67 and forced overtime. Burkhardt, Enochs, and Brooks all scored during the Marietta run.

Otterbein opened overtime on a 5-0 run that saw them take a 72-67 edge with just under four minutes to play in overtime. The Pioneers were able to cut the Cardinals lead to three points numerous times, but fell 78-72.

The Pioneers were led by Burkhardt as she scored 18 points, and grabbed seven rebounds in the game. Enochs added 12 points and pulled down six rebounds for Marietta. Lett pitched in with 10 points and led the Pioneers in assists with four.

Marietta will return the court Saturday when they travel to take on John Carroll with the game set to tip at 3 p.m.