Mount Vernon, Ohio – The Marian women's basketball team fell to Mount Vernon Nazarene on the road Saturday afternoon 68-58, snapping a 12-game win streak. The loss hands the Knights their first Crossroads League loss of the season, as they fall to 17-2 overall and 8-1 in CL play.

Marian battled hard, but found struggles offensively, shooting 34.3% from the field and 31.3% from three-point range. 

Both teams struggled to get anything flowing in the opening minutes of the game, with the first basket not coming until 7:21 was left to go in the quarter. Mount Vernon struck first with a layup before Abbey McNally came back down the floor and hit one on the feed from Ella Collier. The scoring struggles continued in the quarter until MVNU got another jumper to fall with 6:53 to go. Sara Majorosova answered with a three-pointer to take the 5-4 lead.

The remainder of the first quarter went back and forth with the two teams trading points. With 1:04 left in the first quarter, Marian got a layup from Aliyah Evans to hold a 15-14 advantage, but it was the Cougars knocking down a long ball to take the 17-15 lead after quarter one.

Mount Vernon got the first score of the second quarter with a good three-pointer to go up by five. Kinnidy Garrard gave Marian a little bit of momentum with layup, sparking a 6-2 run to cut the deficit to 22-21. The Knights continued their run around a minute later as Kenna Kirby canned the triple to give Marian the two-point advantage. MVNU responded with a 9-0 run to regain the lead at 31-24. Allison Bosse connected with Collier to put a stop to the run, but it was the Cougars having the last say of the quarter as Madelyn Lawson hit one in the paint. Marian would trail 33-26 going into halftime.

Evans got the third quarter started for the Knights with a jumper on the assist from Bosse to cut the MVNU lead to five. The Cougars did not budge as they held the nine-point advantage with 7:33 to play in the third quarter. Marian began to see signs of life in short bursts with a little over six minutes to go in the quarter as McNally got four points for her team to trail 39-34. However, the Mount Vernon offense remained hot as they jumped to a 10-point lead before McNally completed the and-one play to cut the deficit to 44-37 going into the final quarter of play.

The opening two and half minutes were scoreless for both teams until Kirby fired up from deep to put the MVNU lead back down to four. Sage Brannon answered right back with a three-pointer of her own, sparking an 11-0 spurt to give the Cougars the biggest lead of the game at 55-40 with 5:22 to go. Garrard and Kirby found buckets for Marian with a layup and triple, before a Collier layup brought the lead back down to 10. With a little under two minutes to play, Marian began fouling in hopes MVNU would miss free throws down the stretch.

The Knights continued to fight as Kirby hit her fourth three of the game, putting her team within single digits. Collier managed to knock down two more shots, but made free throws my Mount Vernon and not enough time left on the clock, Marian would fall 68-58.

McNally led Marian with a double-double, going for 13 points and 13 rebounds. Collier and Kirby each added 12 points, while Bosse, Evans, and Garrard all had six points. Garrard also pulled down eight rebounds and Bosse dished out five assists.

Marian will look to bounce back into the win column on Wednesday at home against St. Francis with tip slated for 7 p.m.   

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