Indianapolis, Ind.- The Marian women's basketball hosted their 2024-25 home opener this evening against Oakland City. The Knights claimed their first home win of the season in a final score of 63-60. Marian is now 2-0 overall on the 2024-25 season.

Taylor Double got the points rolling for the Knights with a jumper at the 8:06 mark to get Marian on the board first. The Mighty Oaks fired back with a three-pointer followed by a layup to take the 5-2 lead with six minutes remaining in the first quarter. Zoe Wheeler pushed at the visitors lead with a three pointer at the four minute mark to start the Knights rally. Abbey McNally followed up with two layups to take the lead back into the Knights hands. Wheeler continued to increase Marian's lead with a jump-shot to bring the score 11-8 in favor of Marian and forced an Oakland City timeout. The Mighty Oaks finished up the first quarter with two layups to take the 12-11 lead.

McNally opened up the second quarter with a layup off of a pass from Double to take the 13-12 lead. Olivia Faust got her hand in the mix with a jumper at the 8:50 mark. The Mighty Oaks and Knights traded baskets in the midway point of the second quarter with Oakland City having two layups and a jumper. Faust claimed a jumper and Kiley McNally ticked off a layup and two pairs of free throws to keep the 23-18 lead after the media timeout. Olivia Faust finished off the second quarter with a three pointer to bring the score 32-27 going into halftime. 

The Mighty Oaks and Knights opened up the third quarter trading threes with Double claiming the three for Marian extending their lead 35-30. Abbey McNally continued Marian's push with two layups followed by a layup from Double to force a visitors timeout. Marian claimed their largest lead of the Knight with a three-pointer on the left from Faust to bring the game to a 12 point margin. Oakland City pushed at the margin with a pair of free throws and a layup to force a Marian timeout with the score 46-38. McNally and the visitors traded layups to end the third quarter with a score of 48-40.

Kiley McNally opens up the fourth quarter with back-to-back layups to bring the margin back to 12 points and forcing an Oakland City timeout. The visitors pushed at Marian's lead with a free throw and layup before calling their last timeout of the game. Abbey McNally made a pair of free throws followed up by Wheeler's layup to extend the Knights lead 56-45. The Mighty Oaks continued to push at Marian's lead with back-to-back layups and a three pointer. Emily Grimm was able to extend Marian's margin with two good free throws to bring the score 58-52. The visitors brought the margin down to one with a pair of free throws and a three-pointer at the 1:58 mark. Olivia Faust increased the margin once again making a pair of free throws with 1:28 left to play. The Mighty Oaks made their final push with a good jumper that was followed by Grimm's attack with a good free throw to bring the margin 61-59 with 53 seconds left to play. Kiley McNally extended the Knights lead with a good layup. Oakland City made their final attempts with a good free throw to bring the final score 63-60 and allow Marian to secure the win.

Abbey McNally claimed the most points for the Knights with 16 on the evening. Kiley McNally was close behind with 14 and Olivia Faust claimed 12 on the evening. Zoe Wheeler, Faust, and Abbey McNally each tallied six rebounds on the evening. Kiley McNally wasn't far behind with five.

The Knights will be back in action on Friday and Saturday as they host and compete in the Catholic Classic. On Friday Marian will play against MidAmerica Nazarene at 7:30 p.m. and then will take on St. Xavier on Saturday at 1:00 p.m..

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