Rochester Hills, Mich. – The Marian women's basketball team began the 2022-2023 season victorious on Saturday, as the Knights defeated Rochester University 60-48 to give them the 1-0 record to start the year.
Marian got off to a bit of a slow start in the season opener, with Rochester getting out to a 7-2 lead behind a five-point spurt. Ella Collier ended the run after hitting a layup, but the hosts would knock down a pair of freebies and hit a layup to grow their lead to 11-4. With the 2:35 remaining in the period, Kenna Kirby came off the bench to knock one down from deep, before Majestic Sales hit a free throw to tie things up at 13-13. The Warriors hit a couple layups while Kirby hit two free throws as the quarter winded down with Marian down 17-15 to close it out.
After some first quarter jitters, Marian came out in quarter two outscoring their opponent 13-8. Kirby got things going for the Knights as she knocked down a layup to even things up. Collier knocked down a three-ball before hitting a layup off the steal with 7:25 remaining in the half that would spark a 7-4 run going into halftime with the 28-25 lead.
A Jayla Wehner jumper and Allison Bosse three started out the third quarter, and not letting Rochester score for the opening two minutes. Both teams went back and forth a majority of the quarter until Collier would hit her third three of the game and Abbey McNally canned two free throws to send the Marian lead back up to seven at 40-33. Olivia Faust made a basket to end a minute scoring drought by both teams before Collier made two free throws to give the Knights their largest lead of the game at 10. The Warriors closed out quarter with a couple layups and a free throw to cut lead down to five with a score of 44-39 going into the final quarter of play.
Neither team could score in a little over the first two minutes of play until Rochester hit a free throw to start the scoring. A three pointer by Collier started a 9-2 run for Marian that saw Rochester respond by knocking down a layup. However, it would not be enough to stop the Knights as they put together the defensive stops and saw a late Faust three go in with 40 seconds remaining to finish strong, winning 60-48.
In the win, the Knights were led by Collier, who had a game-high 20 points, going 4-8 from three to go along with six steals, five rebounds, three blocks, and two assists. McNally had 13 points as she was the only other Knight to score in double-digits. The freshman also added five rebounds and two assists. Kirby added seven points, while Faust and Bosse each scored six. Sales pulled down a team-high seven rebounds to go along with three points, while Aliyah Evans corralled six boards. Wehner tied for a game-high four assists and scored four points.
Marian will return to action on Wednesday for their home opener against Concordia (Mich.) at 7 PM.
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