The Marietta College women’s basketball team put together another tough performance, combining strong defense with unselfish offense to walk away with a 84-67 conference victory over Heidelberg Saturday.

The Pioneers improved to 13-8 on the season and 7-7 in the Ohio Athletic Conference in front of a big Winter Weekend crowd at the Ban Johnson Arena. The Student Princes fell to 3-18 overall and 2-12 in conference games.

“We made a great emphasis on sharing the ball the past few days of practice,” said Marietta head coach Jenna Andersen. “I am proud of our group for getting 17 assists today and playing for each other. We also had a great effort from our bench, having 51 points from them!”

Marietta started the game with a quick bomb from Ally Grake to give the Pioneers an early advantage. Heidelberg stayed close and even took a 9-7 lead at the 5:22 mark as Emma Keto buried a 3-pointer. Later in the quarter, Amelia Uhrig scored a layup off of an Adi Hill assist to put the Pioneers up by one point, but Morgan Altenburger’s layup a minute later tied the contest back up. Kami Whiteaker gave the Student Princes a boost off of the bench as she followed with a pair of baskets, pushing their lead to four. Abby Garner answered with a layup and Paige Tolson beat the buzzer with a jumper and Pioneers trailed 19-17 going into the second period.

Marietta turned up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, leading to seven steals and allowing the Pioneers to change the direction of the game. It would take a minute or so for Marietta to convert some shots, but things began to heat up as they would score the first 16 points of the quarter. After a Hill steal, Grake scored a 3-pointer and Ella McMillen followed with a 3-pointer on the next possession to push Marietta back into the lead. McMillen and Emma Rasmussen continued the run with a layup apiece and Tolson, Kelsey Harlan, and Sophie Nelson followed with shots from the paint to push the Pioneer lead to 33-19. Heidelberg finally got a little momentum back and finished the half on a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 35-27 going into halftime.

Heidelberg had some early success in the third period as they got to the free throw line and converted their first four attempts. They even cut the lead to three as Emma Keto buried a 3-pointer at the 6:38 mark. Marietta would take firm control of the game as they would go on to score the next 14 points, eight from Tolson, over the next four minutes. Altenburger briefly stopped the run with a layup, but Olivia Keeney came off the bench to hit a pair of jumpers to push the Pioneer margin to 20. Harlan finished off the pivotal quarter with a slashing layup and Marietta led 60-42 going into the final period.

Leading big going into the fourth period, Marietta emptied the bench and got some good performances from some reserve players and eventually cruised to victory, 84-67.

Tolson led Marietta with 17 points, going 4-of-7 from the line and grabbed three steals. Grake followed with nine points and led the defensive effort with four steals.

Altenburger, a Marietta High grad and classmate of Hill, led the Student Princes with 15 points and 17 rebounds

The Pioneers return to the court on Wednesday as they travel to battle Capital. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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After a dramatic corner 3-pointer from Darius Carden to force overtime, the Marietta College men’s basketball team faded in the overtime period and a lost a crucial Ohio Athletic Conference game, 112-99, Saturday to Heidelberg.

The loss drops Marietta to 10-11 on the season and 4-10 in the OAC. Heidelberg improves to 14-7 on the season and 10-4 in the OAC.

There was a massive discrepancy in opportunities at the free-throw line as Heidelberg went a staggering 28-for-30 from the line as opposed to Marietta only scoring 5-of-6 from the line.

Carden went 5-of-8 from 3-point range and finished with a team-high 23 points, also leading the Pioneers with eight rebounds and two steals. Four other Pioneers were in double figures. Frank Waganfeald scored 19 points. De’Ovion Price finished with 15 points. Jayden Bradshaw and Danny Flood both finished with 12 points.

Markell Johnson-Nichols led all scorers with 26 points, going 10-of-12 from the free throw line. Elijah Harden followed with 23 points.

Marietta will return home Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game with Capital.