Pioneer women fall short against Blue Streaks, 75-50

Marietta College's Hannah Kroft, right, screens the screener (John Carroll's Ava Ryncarz) as teammate Paige Tolson defends against the Blue Streaks' Graci Semptimphelter. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
The Marietta College women’s basketball team of first-year head coach Jenna Anderson battled back from a 37-25 halftime deficit here Saturday afternoon inside Ban Johnson Arena against John Carroll and had it even at 62 midway through the fourth quarter, but the Blue Streaks managed to secure a 75-70 Ohio Athletic Conference triumph.
Pioneer senior point guard Paige Tolson nearly matched her career-high of 32 points. She led all scorers with 30 and hit 10 of 24 from the field, knocked down 5 of 10 from deep and made all five of her foul shots to go along with six rebounds and a co-game-high five steals along with teammate Kelsey Harlan, who had nine bench counters.
MC (11-8, 5-7), which welcomes in Otterbein on Wednesday night, took a 55-54 lead after Sophia Murray, who had six points, five caroms, four steals and five dimes, assisted on an Adi Hill 3 and an Amelia Uhrig deuce.
Graci Semptimphelter’s deep triple put the Blue Streaks (14-5, 8-4) back in front, but Tolson answered a dozen seconds later from beyond the arc to make it 58-57. Semptimphelter, who tied Murray for game-high assists honors, came right back and once again answered with a trifecta nine ticks later, but it was even at 60 following a Hill jumper.
Hill’s putback with 5 minutes to go squared it for the final time at 62, but Ella Neitzel, who came off the bench to score 15 points and drained 4 of 5 from distance, knocked down a 3 to put the visitors ahead for good with 3:54 to go.

Marietta' College's Sophia Murray ties up John Carroll's Carmen Heuker during Saturday’s game inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Ava Ryncarz, who went for game-highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds, helped her team to a 67-62 cushion when she assisted on Carly Perusek’s bucket.
The Pioneers managed to make it a one possession affair at 67-64 with 3 minutes left following a Hannah Kroft foul shot and again at 69-66 with 45.2 seconds remaining after a lay-in by Harlan, but the visitors held on to snap a three-game losing streak.
“We were exactly where we wanted to be,” admitted coach Anderson after her squad rallied from the halftime deficit and tied it up in the fourth. “It’s a tough one to lose it like that, but I was super proud of the fight we put in today. We clawed back from a hole we dug ourselves in that second quarter there.
“One of the big things we had to focus on our scout was getting out to the 3-point shooters and that was number 33 (Ryncarz) and 25 (Neitzel) and we knew they were going to get them up, and we just kind of fell short of that in the second quarter and that dug us that hole there.”
Although Ella McMillen opened the game with a hoop to put MC ahead early, it was Tolson who scored 10 of the next 11 points as the Pioneers led 13-4. However, the Blue Streaks had a 15-13 edge after one when Brooke Laub capped an 11-0 spurt with a runner in the paint.

Marietta College’s Paige Tolson hits a 3-pointer in the first half of Saturday’s game against John Carroll inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Harlan had a steal and a layup that was followed by a Tolson steal and a short jumper, which put MC ahead 21-20 with 5:31 left in the half. However, a 17-4 run to close the half was fueled by a trio of triples from Ryncarz and a pair of 3s by Neitzel.
Despite trailing by a baker’s dozen at 47-34 with 4:05 to go in the third following a layup by Daylan Baker, the hosts closed it to within four at 52-48 entering the fourth thanks to a 3 by Tolson that just beat the buzzer.
“When we’re down in those situations we practice those all the time. Those end of game situations. I thought we executed things well today when we needed to,” added coach Anderson. “It’s just tough when you have to foul at the end to stop the clock and they are making their free throws. I’m extremely proud of the fight we had today. It’s definitely a move in the right direction for us. We’re hoping to use that to fuel us for the next couple of games.”
Carmen Heuker chipped in 10 points for the Blue Streaks, who shot 54.3% (25 of 46) and made 12 of 22 from deep.
MC, which received nine markers from Harland and won the turnover battled 27-16, also got seven points from Hill and six apiece by Kroft and TJ Carpenter. The hosts shot just 37.3% (25 of 67) and missed 16 of 22 from downtown.

Marietta College's Kelsey Harlan and John Carroll's Carmen Heuker race to track down the basketball during Saturday’s game inside Ban Johnson Arena. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com