BABSON PARK, Fla. – The No. 6 Marian women's basketball team defeated Webber International with ease Saturday afternoon as they ran away with the 72-37 victory to go into the New Year with a 14-1 overall record.
It was Webber scoring the first points of the game off a Marian turnover before Ella Collier came back to answer with back-to-back threes to put the Knights up 6-2 early in the first quarter. It was the Warriors responding with a jumper, but Allison Bosse and Sara Majorosova gave it right back with a jumper and three-pointer. In the final four minutes of play in quarter one, Marian held Webber to just two points while the Knights cruised to a 10-point lead fueled by a 6-2 run that started with a transition bucket from Abbey McNally.
Marian got out to a hot start to begin the second quarter with a 19-0 run that included baskets from five different Knights. Webber finally found their first score of the quarter with 2:30 remaining, but it was McNally scoring back-to-back buckets off of offensive rebounds to make it a 40-9 lead in favor of the Knights going into halftime.
After the break, the Warriors opened the third quarter with a jumper before it got back to being all Marian. McNally, Collier, and Majorosova each found themselves with a layup before Tamia Perryman connected with Aliyah Evans on the cut to extend the Marian lead to 48-11. The Warriors tried to answer multiple times as they put together a 5-2 run to close out the third quarter. However, the Marian defense proved to be too much for the hosts as they held the 56-18 advantage going into the final quarter of action.
The dominating effort continued for the Knights in the fourth quarter with McNally and Collier scoring early to grow the lead up to 42. Webber never stopped battling as they hit a jumper at the 7:01 mark to spark a 10-2 run for the Warriors. Alexa McKinley and Jayla Wehner put a stop to run as Wehner found McKinley for the three-pointer to put Marian back up 67-30. The hosts came back down the floor with a three of their own, but it was McKinley and Esther Sevilla putting the finishing touches on the 72-37 win.
Collier paced the Knights with 18 points, six rebounds, four assists, and two steals. McNally added 16 points and five rebounds, while Evans put together eight points, four rebounds, and four assists. Perryman and Kenna Kirby each provided a spark off the bench as Perryman pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to go along with six points, while Kirby finished with seven points and four rebounds.
Marian will kick off the 2023 portion of the season back with Crossroads league play as they host Grace at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
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