Pioneers tame Lions, 79-42, improve to 3-0
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MARIETTA -- While the season is still young, Marietta College women’s basketball is off to a hot start. After wins against St. Vincent and Case Western, the Pioneers continued their winning ways by defeating Penn State-Behrend by a final of 79-42.
Hannah Schill hit an early three for the Pioneers to get things going. With the score at 10-0 Marietta, Penn State-Behrend got a shot clock violation thanks to some excellent team defense by the Pioneers. Hannah Kroft quickly added a layup to capitalize on the opportunity. Marietta extended its lead to as high as 14-0 before the Lions could respond with a pair of made free throws.
Kroft continued to score, this time on an excellent putback off of an offensive rebound. The Pioneers continued to make nice plays near the end of the first quarter, including a steal by Adi Hill and a three-pointer by Kelly Levering.
Marietta put together a display of absolute dominance in the first half. The Pioneers had a 23-7 lead at the end of the period.
Marietta continued to extend its lead in the second quarter. Paige Tolson used her quickness to weave her way through defenders for a layup. Olivia Gribble made a three-point shot with four to fo in the second quarter. Kroft had layups on back-to-back possessions to keep the Pios' offense ablaze. Near the end of the half, Madison Cecil put together a nice play where she stole the ball and layed it up herself for two points on the fast break.
Marietta went into the half up 41-19. Penn State-Behrend was getting chances to shoot, but the tough defense of the Pioneers kept them from getting clean opportunities. The Lions were 6-29 from the field in the first half.
Gribble hit another three early in the third quarter. Tolson, continuing her evasive ways, dribbled the ball upcourt and found Kroft for the layup. Demonstrating her prowess as a guard, Tolson did the same thing moments later, connecting this time with Levering for two points.
Gribble hit her third three-pointer of the game, this time coming in the form of a buzzer-beater to end the third quarter. The Pioneers found themselves up 63-34 with one period remaining.
On another three-point attempt by Gribble, Levring managed a putback after the ball bounced out. Morgan Dixon had some great plays near the end of the game, including a layup and a three-point shot moments later.
Marietta College went on to win against Penn State-Behrend by a final of 70-42 to improve to 3-0 on the young season.
Top scorers for the Pioneers included Levering with 13, as well as Makenzie Wilson and Kroft each with 12. Jenna Smith got the most rebounds with a total of nine. Tolson led the team with 6 assists. Gribble and Ally Grake each managed a block. As a team, Marietta shot 33-71 from the field compared to Penn State-Behrend at 14-53.
Pioneers head coach Kole Vivian gave his thoughts on the game, "There are some things we wanted to do a little better. First half, we had a huge lead, but in the second half I wanted to see us move a little quicker on offense, and I thought we did that. We shared the ball really well. A lot of our made shots were coming off of really nice passes, so we did some really good stuff there. We forced them into a lot of turnovers too, and we got the whole available roster in, which was nice." He continued, "I thought Hannah Schill's energy was really good to start the game, and then Wilson gets up and down the court so well with that too, so a lot of really good stuff."
Vivian said of Kroft's dominance in the paint, "She always has a good size and strength advantage on people. Getting her in there, she makes a lot of really good shots. She does a great job with the offensive glass too, so she's a huge part of our team."
The Pioneers skipper was sure to mention that the Lions were not at full strength, "They're without one of their top players, maybe their best player, so hopefully she comes back for them soon."
On the 3-0 start to the season, Vivian commented, "It feels really good. It's been a huge week for us. Going up there and taking care of Case Western on Monday and playing these guys tonight. I think these guys (Penn State-Behrend) are going to be a NCAA tournament team. I think they have a really good chance to win their league, especially if they get everybody back."
Marietta will head to Delaware this Saturday to take on Ohio Wesleyan at 2 p.m. Vivian said of that matchup, "Saturday is going to be a battle. Those guys made the NCAA tournament last year, they're bringing back their entire team. We played them pretty close down here last year, we were able to get them."
Contact Aaron Lee alee@newsandsentinel.com