Steffas leads Women's Basketball in 72-64 loss to Marietta

By: Andrew Korba

MARIETTA -- Sophomore Karissa Steffas scored 13 points, but the Ohio Northern women's basketball team dropped a 72-64 contest to Marietta on Saturday afternoon at Ban Johnson Arena.

The Polar Bears drop to 9-3 overall and 2-3 in OAC play, while the Pioneers improve to 8-4, 2-3.

Steffas finished 2-of-4 from the field and 6-of-8 from the line and also grabbed four rebounds.

Junior Jordan Kimes scored 12 points and pulled down eight rebounds and senior Cenzie Yoder added 11 points.

Candice Alexander led MC with 18 points and Jessica Brogan added 15 off the bench.

A layup from sophomore Carly Thomas capped off an early 6-0 and gave ONU a 13-8 lead with just under 15 minutes left to play in the first half.

Marietta would storm back and use a 19-0 run to open a 34-18 lead with 4:37 remaining in the first half.

Northern would chip away at the lead and the Pioneers owned a 41-30 advantage at halftime.

In the second half, ONU continued to trim the deficit and cut the Marietta lead to 65-63 with 1:52 left to play, on a free throw from Steffas.

But the Pioneers would hold their lead and shoot 6-of-7 from the free throw line down the stretch to put the game away.

The Polar Bears finished 25-of-56 (44.6 percent) from the field and were 6-of-14 (42.9 percent) in three pointers, while Marietta were 27-of-55 (49.1 percent) in shooting and 7-of-14 (50 percent) from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers held a slim 33-31 advantage in rebounds.

Ohio Northern will return to action on Saturday (Jan. 11), with a visit to Mount Union at 3 pm.