BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University women's basketball team closed out the regular season portion of the 2023-24 season as it fell to Marietta College in an Ohio Athletic Conference and Seniors' Day game by a final score of 71-56 in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center.
Prior to the game, BW honored its four senior student-athletes in forward Megan Jurosic (New Knoxville), forward Kira Philpot (Stow/Stow-Munroe-Falls), guard/forward Sylvie Sonneman (Jamestown/Greenview), gurard Carolyn Wochele (Mentor) and student assistant coach Brenna Varga.
The Yellow Jackets (20-5, 16-2 OAC), who claimed their 11th OAC Regular Season Championship on Wednesday night, will enter next week's OAC Tournament as the top seed and will host a semifinal game on Thursday, February 22 at 7 p.m.
BW was led by junior All-OAC forward Bella Vaillant (Perrysburg) with a game-high 17 points.
Marietta (20-5, 15-3 OAC) had three players score in double digits led by senior All-OAC guard Olivia Gribble as she scored 13 points. Junior guard Paige Tolson tallied 12 points and senior Academic All-OAC guard Madison Cecil chipped in with 10 points.
1st Quarter (MAR, 18-12)
- The Pioneers took the early 6-3 lead on jumper by Cecil at the 3:40 mark.
- The Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to 9-8 on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Kaycie Badylak (Cincinnati/Archbishop McNicholas) at 2:14
- Marietta closed the opening quarter on a 9-4 run
2nd Quarter (MAR, 33-26)
- BW cut the lead down to 24-20 on a pair of free throws by Vaillant at the 5:28 mark
- The Pioneers outscored the Yellow Jackets 9-6 the remainder of the first half
3rd Quarter (MAR, 60-39)
- The Yellow Jackets cut the lead down to 37-33 on a layup by sophomore guard Alyssa Miller (New Philadelphia) at the 8:10 mark
- Marietta answered with a 20-4 run to take a 57-37 lead on a pair of free throws by Gribble with 20 seconds remaining
- The Pioneers scored three of the final five points
4th Quarter (MAR, 71-56)
- BW cut the lead down to 68-51 on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Leah Riley (Cincinnati/Sycamore) at the 3:39 mark
- The Yellow Jackets scored five of the last eight points
