INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 8 Marian women's basketball team picked up the huge win over No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan in a thrilling 68-64 overtime win on Saturday afternonn inside the PE Center. The victory moves the Knights to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in Crossroads League action.
Marian jumped out to the 13-2 lead six minutes into the game behind baskets from six different Knights. With 3:32 left in the first quarter, IWU finally answered with back-to-back three-pointers to end the scoring drought. Aliyah Evans came back down the floor with an aggressive take that sent her to the free throw line where she hit both to increase the Marian lead to 15-8. The Wildcats closed out the first quarter by scoring the final five points to cut the deficit to 15-13.
The two teams traded baskets over the first two minutes of the second quarter as Marian got the lead back up to three at 17-14 after Ella Collier canned one from deep. However, the visitors responded right back with a three of their own to even things up at 17-17 with 6:57 remaining in the quarter. Collier connected with Sara Majorosova for a jumper in the corner that sparked a 6-2 run for the Knights, seeing Allison Bosse cash in a pair of freebies and hit a jumper in the paint. IWU took over in the final two minutes of the first half as they ended on an 8-2 run to take the 28-25 lead into the break.
Once again, the two teams came out in the third quarter trading baskets through the first six minutes of play as the Wildcats held the 42-32 advantage after back-to-back three-pointers. With 3:18 remaining in the quarter, Evans hit a turnaround in the paint to help spark an 8-2 run to end the third quarter trailing 44-40.
Evans got things rolling for Marian to start the fourth quarter as she hit the bucket to cut the deficit back to two. It was IWU coming back with two three-pointers to pull their lead back up 50-42 before Abbey McNally and Tamia Perryman gave a boost of momentum as the duo connected for the fastbreak layup after McNally received the dish from Perryman. Less than a minute later Perryman found her own basket as she hit the layup to cut lead down to five at 53-48. IWU answered with a layup, but it was the Knights coming back from behind to send the game into overtime behind a 7-0 run that ended with an Evans jumper with 11 seconds left to play to close out regulation at 55-55.
The overtime started with Collier finding Evans on the cut to hit the layup, giving Marian their first lead since the second quarter at 57-55. Moments later, a few fouls by Marian allowed IWU to take the one-point lead with 3:10 remaining. After the Wildcats took the lead, it was Evans and Bosse teaming up in the final two minutes as they scored the final 11 points for the Knights. Evans found Bosse on the cut who then hit the layup to tie things up at 61-61 before Bosse canned a three with 20 seconds left to take the 66-64 lead, forcing the IWU timeout. The Wildcats tried to set something up with the clock ticking down, but a turnover gave the ball back to Marian and Evans would step to the line, hitting her free throws to seal the win for Marian 68-64.
Evans had a career-high 21 points to go along with five rebounds and three assists. McNally had herself a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, while Bosse added 14 points. Collier scored nine points, while also pulling down five rebounds and dishing out four assists.
Marian will take a one game break from conference play on Wednesday when they make the trip to the University of Michigan-Dearborn at 7 PM.
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