By: Ryan Gasser, sports information director

MARIETTA, Ohio – The Capital University women's basketball team had an impressive start to the OAC Tournament but the fourth-seeded Marietta College Pioneers battled through and defeated the fifth-seeded Crusaders at Ban Johnson Arena, 53-49, on Tuesday night.

ADDITIONAL INFO
Box score  |  Watch the game again!  |  2020 statistics
Follow Capital Athletics on Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Facebook

SUPERIOR DEFENSE EARLY

• Turnovers on both sides of the court kept the scoreboard dim until the 7:25 mark when Cassidy Bosch's made free throws broke a 2:35 scoreless streak by both teams.
• Capital's defense kept the Pioneers completely scoreless through the opening 6:45 of the game until Jill Congrove split a pair of free throws to break the drought and make for an 8-1 game with 3:15 to go in the first.
• Marietta did not hit a single field goal in the first quarter on nine attempts.
• Capital left the first quarter with a 10-5 lead, but only hit 1-of-14 field goal attempts. Eight of their points came from the charity stripe. Cap went 8-for-12 from the free-throw line in the first quarter.
• CU forced Marietta into six turnovers in the opening quarter.

CLAWING BACK

• Marietta took a page out of Cap's book and made its living at the free-throw line, hitting 8-of-10 attempts while only going 4-of-12 from the field.
• Despite the sub-par field goal shooting and Capital hitting 58.3 percent (7-12) of its attempts, the Pioneers managed to outscore Capital 17-16 in the second quarter.
• After taking a 26-23 lead into halftime, Taylor Marlo tied the game at 27 with a 3-pointer just two minutes into the third quarter. She later gave Marietta its first lead, 31-29, with a layup near the midway point of the quarter.
• Marietta extended that lead to five but Caroline Taphorn's jumper inside the last 30 seconds of the third helped keep Cap to within one possession heading into the final break.

THE FINISH

• The Crusaders continued to work the inside game and were rewarded 14 free throws as a result. They hit just eight of those and committed six turnovers in the fourth.
• Despite this, Capital found itself ahead of the Pios with 5:39 to go after a pair of Elli Wachtman freebies at the line.
• Luce Duritza gave Marietta the lead for the final time on a pair of jumpers in back-to-back possessions. After hitting a shot to give Marietta a 44-43 lead, she then blocked a shot and hit a second jumper on the other end to make for a 46-43 contest with 3:35 remaining.
• Alexis Enoch's 3-pointer made it a two-possession game, 49-45, with under two minutes to go, which proved to be a comfortable enough margin to sustain to the end. To late turnovers by the Crusaders on attempted inside passes sealed the win for Marietta, 53-49.

WRAPPING UP

• Senior Cassidy Bosch ended her career with a team-leading 13 points and nine rebounds, plus four steals.
• Senior Regan Stonerock matched Bosch in the rebounding category, while Elli Wachtman joined Bosch in double-digit scoring with 10 points.
• Senior Sam Sech scored six points off the bench, as did freshman Kaylee Cyphers.
• Marlo Taylor scored a game-high 18 points behind 5-of-10 shooting and hit 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. She also added a team-high eight rebounds.
• Capital wraps up the year with a 14-12 overall record after entering the OAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed behind a 9-9 OAC record.
• Marietta will move on in the OAC Tournament and play top-seeded Baldwin Wallace on Thursday, February 27 in Berea, Ohio.