COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Capital University women's basketball team was back home on Wednesday to take on Marietta College. The contest against the Pioneers was the Comets first Wednesday night game at home since their December 14 matchup with Olivet.
Tonight's result sees both teams' overall records move to 11-5, while Capital now sits 5-4 in the OAC and Marietta is 6-3 in conference play.
The win for Capital over the Pioneers was the first for Capital since February 27, 2021.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The game stood almost still for the first 7:00 minutes as it was plagued by turnovers and fouls. In fact, the first made field goal – a three-pointer from Marietta – of the game did not occur until the first quarter clock showed 3:03. It did not take long for the Comets to respond, however, putting together a nice little 7-2 run to end the quarter. At the end of the first, Cap found themselves ahead, 12-8.
In the second quarter, both teams began to pick it up offensively. However, over the final 6:07 of the period, Capital held the edge, ending the half on a 14-6 run over the Pioneers to establish a 28-21 lead at the break. That spread proved to be crucial late on as Marietta scrapped for a comeback effort.
Jenna Horsley helped the Comets to get it going in the first half with some hot shooting from deep. She scored a team-high nine points through the first two quarters, all coming from 3-pointers.
In the third quarter, Capital came out the aggressor and built their lead out to 15 points by netting the second half's first eight points.
Samaree Perkins was directly responsible for six of those eight points, helping to ignite the efforts.
Despite the hot start, Marietta responded by finishing the final six minutes of the third on an 8-2 run to keep things close.
In the fourth quarter, the Pioneers did everything they could to claw their way back into the game, cutting the Comet lead to just one point at 40-39 with 5:49 left in the game. From there, Capital went on an 11 point run that created some separation. However, an eight point swing in just 13 seconds by the Pioneers made things awfully interesting and trimmed the gap to three points this time. Going for a tying bucket, the Pioneers missed their shot and then resorted to fouling the rest of the way as Capital hung on for the 55-47 win.
THE NUMBERS
Samaree Perkins led all players with 17 points, making up a mediocre offensive night with a 5-for-7 clip from the free throw. The freshman also pulled in 10 rebounds, marking her fifth double-double of her debut season. She added an assist, a block and a steal as well to her night's effort.
Bri O'Connor was the next leading scorer with 11 points. She did most of her damage from the free throw line with 9-for-14 at the stripe. She added four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
Jenna Horsley had a big effort off the bench with nine points and a rebound.
All players who touched to floor got in the action someway as eight of the nine Comets into the game scored and the other –
Maddie Dougoud – contributed three rebounds and two big time assists.
Maddi Weiland finished with five rebounds, four blocks and two steals defensively.
Demi Brewer pulled in eight boards and finished with two assists and a steal to go with her five points.
THE OPPONENT
Points -Devin Hefner (12)
Assists - Three Players (2)
Rebounds - Erin Hahn (14)
Blocks - Camille Cummins (2)
Steals - Erin Hahn (3)
UP NEXT
There's an oar up for grabs in the Comets' next contest as they will host the rival Otterbein Cardinals on Saturday, January 21 in the Battle for the Oar presented by Byers Airport Subaru. That game will be the first leg of a women's-men's doubleheader at the Capital Center with the women's teams facing off at 5:00 p.m. followed by the men at 7:00 p.m.
