INDIANAPOLIS – The No. 6 Marian women's basketball team held off the late comeback to defeat Grace 67-65 on Wednesday night inside the PE Center. The win moves the Knights to 6-0 in Crossroads League play and 15-1 overall.
A little over the first minute of half of play was scoreless until Allison Bosse got Marian going with the team's first four points, sparking an 8-2 run. Grace scored at the 6:10 mark. The Knights answered with an 7-0 run started with a Bosse three-pointer to give Marian the 15-4 lead with 4:21 left to play in the first quarter. The Lancers responded with two freebies before the Knights closed out the first quarter ahead 25-7 after an Ella Collier layup to beat the horn.
Grace came out on the attack in the second quarter as they outscored Marian 23-20. It was Bosse scoring the first points of the quarter before fouls by the Knights sent Grace to the line, knocking down four free throws. A layup from Abbey McNally and jumper from Collier got the Marian lead back up to 16 at 32-16, but the Lancers answered with a Peyton Murphy three-pointer. The two teams went back and forth the remainder of the second quarter with Marian taking in the 45-30 advantage into the break.
Grace scored the opening basket after halftime before the two teams traded points through the first three minutes of action. A layup by Collier and back-to-back baskets from McNally shifted the momentum to the Marian side. Kiersten Findley scored in the paint to spark a 7-0 spurt for the Lancers while Marian found themselves in a scoring drought for a little over three minutes. Grace managed to outscore Marian 21-14 in the quarter, cutting the deficit to eight points going into the final period of play.
The Lancers continued their comeback in the fourth quarter, opening up with a layup from Kaylee Patton. Collier came back to the other end with a layup of her own, but it was Grace clawing their way back with a 7-0 spurt to tie things up at 65-65 with a 1:18 left to go in the game. With seconds remaining, Collier found her way to the free throw line with 15.8 seconds left to go, knocking down both to take the two-point lead. Grace called the timeout to try and set up a last second play, but a missed layup by the guests allowed Marian to hold on to win 67-65.
The Knights were led by Collier's 22 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. McNally had 17 points and pulled down 12 rebounds for the double-double. Bosse added 14 points and Evans scored 10 to go along with eight rebounds. Sara Majorosova led the team in assists, dishing out four.
Marian will be back at home on Saturday to take on Goshen at 1 p.m.
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