MISHAWAKA, Ind. – The No. 8 Marian women's basketball team took care of business after returning from Thanksgiving Break, dominating Bethel in an 80-66 victory. The Knights moved to 3-0 in Crossroads League play and 8-1 overall.
Bethel was the first to strike as they scored the first four points of the quarter, but afterwards it was all Marian. Aliyah Evans got things going for the Knights as she hit the first bucket before Ella Collier knocked down the triple to take the 5-4 lead. The Pilots answered back with a layup as that would be the last two points the hosts scored of the quarter as the Marian defense shutout down Bethel's offense.
The Knights kept the Pilots scoreless for the remaining seven minutes and racked up 23 points in the first quarter, shooting 9-14 from the field and 3-6 from deep.
As it turned out, Bethel outscored the visiting Knights 15-13 in the second quarter, but not before Marian jumped to the 19-point lead after Collier canned a three-pointer to make the score 29-10 with 5:06 remaining in the quarter two. The Pilots responded with a three of their own before Majestic Sales would hit the free throw to put Marian back up 17. The two teams traded points the rest of quarter, but it was Collier having the last word as she hit a long ball to send Marian into the locker room with the 36-21 advantage.
Allison Bosse knocked down the triple to score the first points of the second half before both teams went back and forth until the Abbey McNally scored six straight points and Bosse scored a pair of freebies to give Marian their largest lead at 24. Bethel hit a free throw and layup with 1:33 left to play in the quarter after not scoring since the 3:31 mark. However, it was the visitors closing out the half 55-31 going into the final quarter of play.
With Marian leading by 24 going into the final frame of play, Bethel continued to play hard as the fourth quarter was more back and forth action with the score being 25-22. Even with the late push by the Pilots, the Knights' offense was too much as Kenna Kirby hit four threes in the final quarter to top off the win for Marian at 80-53.
Collier led the way for Marian with 23 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. McNally added 16 points, while pulling down five rebounds and grabbing four steals. Kirby added a spark as she scored 12 points off the bench, while Bosses added 10 points and dished out three assists.
Marian will return to action on Saturday at 1 PM as they take on No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan.
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