INDIANAPOLIS - After a sluggish start offensively, the Marian women's basketball team found a groove and cruised to a 64-39 victory over Bethel University as they collected their 13th consecutive victory. Sixth-ranked Marian is now 15-1 overall on the season as they remain undefeated with a 6-0 record in Crossroads League play. 

Marian started their night strong on the defensive end, forcing three Bethel turnovers on their opposition's first three possessions of the game. The offense slowly came along with Abbey McNally and Allison Bosse scoring the first two buckets of the game for Marian. Additional stops on the defensive end helped the Knights hold their lead throughout the quarter, and a surge from Bosse allowed the lead to grow to multiple possessions. Marian would end the first quarter leading 13-8, holding their lead despite ending the quarter on a three minute drought on the offensive end.

The scoring drought continued into the second quarter as Marian missed their first three shots from the floor, but another score from McNally halted the skid to push Marian's lead to seven. Scoring continued to be hard to come by for the Knights as multiple missed shots and turnovers marred their offense, with the difference on the board standing at eight points for the majority of the period. In the final two minutes McNally lit a spark for the Knights on both ends of the floor, helping Marian maintain their double digit lead going into the intermission. Kinnidy Garrard scored the final bucket of the half with a jumper in the last 10 seconds, giving Marian a 29-14 lead entering the break.

Marian forced 14 turnovers in the first half, while recording five thefts through 20 minutes of play.

Despite scoring just six points in the second quarter, Bethel came out with a strong offensive approach in the third quarter as they challenged the home team with four consecutive makes to open the half. The Knights' offense was able to match Bethel, and hit a sprint after a three-point field goal from Ella Collier sparked the offense. The trey ignited a 9-0 run, with Collier scoring seven points in the sprint to vault the advantage to 20 points. A trifecta from Collier with 36 seconds remaining in the quarter moved the senior over 1900 career points and pushed the lead to 25, with Marian eventually carrying a 54-32 lead into the final quarter.

The Marian defense finished the game strong, holding Bethel to just seven points in the final quarter of the game. Marian out-paced the Pilots 10-7 in the final period, as several different Knights earned minutes in the final quarter of the game, closing their 13th consecutive win on top 64-39.

The Knights ended the game forcing 19 turnovers while holding the Pilots to 29.6 percent from the field in the win, while offensively the home team scored near a 46 percent clip for the game. Collier finished the game with 18 points to lead all players, and Abbey McNally finished with triple-nickel, scoring 15-points, grabbing 10 rebounds, and blocking five shots. Bosse scored 12 points in the win.

Marian returns to action on Saturday afternoon, traveling to St. Francis with a tip-off time of 1:00 p.m.

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