Marion, Ind. – Saturday afternoon at Luckey Arena was nothing short of what was expected as No. 6 Marian women's basketball battled it out with No. 7 Indiana Wesleyan. However, the comeback would fall short as the Wildcats snapped Marian's seven-year run as Crossroads League champions with the 67-65 win. The loss moves Marian to 23-4 overall, 14-3 in CL play, and make them the No. 2 seed for the conference tournament.
It was Ella Collier scoring the game's first bucket on the drive to basket at the 8:45 mark before IWU responded after getting the offensive board. Allison Bosse canned the triple on the next possession to take the early 5-2 lead, but it was the Wildcats coming right back with a three-pointer of their own to spark a 7-0 run, and take the 9-5 lead. Marian tied it at 10-10 after Sara Majorosova found Bosse for the jumper, but foul trouble and easy buckets missed allowed the hosts to hold the 16-12 advantage after quarter one.
Marian began the second quarter with four straight points to tie the score at 16-16 before a layup by the Wildcats put them back on top. Aliyah Evans found Collier for the long ball to go ahead one before IWU found some momentum to go on a 7-0 spurt, giving them the 25-19 lead. The Knights got a bucket from Kenna Kirby, while Tamia Perryman hit one from downtown to put Marian within four at 29-25. A three-pointer by Kelli Damman with a minute left gave IWU the 32-25 advantage at halftime.
After the break, the two teams continued to battle by trading points through the first three minutes of action. However, Indiana Wesleyan gathered a nine-point lead after back-to-back and-ones from Baylie Vandyke. Collier responded for the Knights by swishing in the three before a few plays later, Kinnidy Garrard would connect with Evans for the midrange to make it 40-35. The spark by Marian did not shake the Wildcats as they put together their own spark with Klair Merrell canning back-to-back three-pointers to put IWU back up 50-41. With 50 seconds left in the quarter Evans hit a pair of free throws after being fouled, but the Wildcats hit the layup with three ticks remaining to grow the lead back to nine at 52-43 after quarter three.
Indiana Wesleyan saw their largest lead of the game at 11 after knocking down the jumper seven seconds into the fourth quarter. The Knights were not rattled as they managed the 14-3 spurt that saw four different players score, and was highlighted by a Collier three and an Abbey McNally layup to tie the score at 57-57. The two teams continued to go back and forth with the game having three more ties throughout.
The Wildcats were able to get ahead five after the and-one, but Majorosova connected with McNally for the points in the paint to spark a 6-0 that ended with two free throws from Collier to put Marian up 63-62 with 2:02 to play. A free throw from the hosts tied things back up before Collier hit two from the line to go ahead two. With 54 seconds left, IWU got two bigtime baskets from Maddie Lawrence. Lawrence hit a layup to even it up at 65-65 before hitting another with five seconds remaining on the clock to put the Wildcats up by two. Marian had a late attempt, but was unable to knock it down as IWU held on for the 67-65 win.
Collier led the way with a game-high 23 points to go along with nine rebounds and four steals. McNally added 12 points, while Bosse scored nine and handed out three assists. Garrard gathered eight rebounds and had six points, and Majorosova dished out a team-best four assists.
The Knights will return home on Wednesday when they host Taylor for their last regular season game. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
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