Lady Pioneers fall on the road 65-45 to 16th-ranked Crusaders

Feb. 15, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Lady Pioneer basketball team hung with the 16th-ranked Crusaders for a half, but Capital caught fire in the final 20 minutes and was able to send Marietta home in defeat, 65-45, Wednesday (Feb. 15).

With the win, Capital improved to 20-3 overall and 13-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. It also locked up the second seed in next week's conference tournament. Marietta fell to 6-17 on the year and 3-13 in league play. It mathematically remains alive for the eighth and final playoff seed. The Pioneers would need to knock off Wilmington and have Heidelberg lose against Muskingum Saturday (Feb. 18).

Marietta jumped ahead 2-0 with a basket by freshman Amanda Carraher (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) 2:36 into the game. Capital led 12-5 with 13:39 remaining in the half, before Marietta went on a 8-0 run to take a brief 13-12 lead at the 11:46 mark. The Crusaders recaptured the advantage with a pair of free throws by Jennifer Lilly and never fell behind again.

Capital led at the half 28-19. Neither team shot the ball well in the opening 20 minutes. Marietta began just 6-of-27 (.222), while Capital was 9-of-27 (.333).

It was a different story for the Crusaders in the second half, as they connected on 15-of-29 (.517) from the field. The Pioneers, meanwhile, continued to struggle and converted just 9-of-28 (.321) of its shots in the final 20 minutes.

The game pitted the OAC's two leading scorers, Marietta's Justine Pagenhardt (Oakland, Md./Southern Garrett) and Capital's Sara Heitkamp. Pagenhardt finished with a game-high 18 points, while Heitkamp was held to 11, but added eight rebounds.

Senior Tabi Taylor (New Matamoras/Frontier) added nine points and seven rebounds for Marietta, while Abby Hess (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls) finished with nine boards and three steals.

Lilly paced Capital with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jenn Algie added 14 points and six boards.

Marietta will remain on the road to close out the regular season against the Wilmington Quakers Saturday (Feb. 18). Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.

Justine Pagenhardt had 18 points against Capital

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