Lions' women's basketball team falls on road to Marietta College, 83-72

Host Marietta College went on a late scoring run tonight, thanks to solid free throw showing, as they held off a Mount challenge in a first round game of the Marietta College Tournament, posting an 83-72 win over the Lions. The Mount, 0-4 on the season, will play on Nov. 27 in the tournament's consolation game against the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg.

Marietta led at the intermission, 33-29, despite being out-shot from the field, 38 to 31 percent by the Lions. The Pioneers were aided by connecting on 10-of-12 free throw shots in the first half to the Mount's three-of-five from the charity stripe. Marietta grabbed their biggest lead of the opening half, seven points, when they raced out to an 11-4 advantage to start the game.

The Lions tied the game for a fifth time at 33-all in the second half, only top see the Pioneers go on a 13-4 run down to the 15:04 mark of the second half to pull ahead, 46-37. Melanie Monahan (Mason, OH/Bishop Fenwick) hit a three-point field goal for the Mount to get the teams back even again, this time at 54-all, and Courtney Cole (Vevay, IN/Switzerland County) connected on two free throws at the 9:20 mark to tie the score at 56-all before Marietta began to score repeatedly from the free throw line and slow the Mount's offense with a solid defensive effort. The Pioneers would run off an 8-0 scoring spree over the next two minutes, and led by as much as a 69-57 score with 3:59 remaining in the game. The Mount would get the score to within six points, 71-65, at 1:59 but would get no closer as Marietta converted 24-of-32 free throws, and made 57 percent of its shot from the field in the second half. The Mount stayed in the game by hitting five, three-pointers in the second 20 minutes of action.

Monahan led all scorers with 18 points while Erin Eagan (Cincinnati, OH/Home school) chipped in 17 points, on five-of-six shooting from three-point range. Katie Jo Collins (Cincinnati, OH/Mercy) added 13 points and four steals while Brooke Mosler (Maysville, KY/St. Patrick's ) had nine points and eight rebounds. Cole collected six assists.