MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College women's basketball team more than lived up to its No. 25 national ranking Wednesday (Nov. 29) evening in Ban Johnson Arena. The Pioneers, ranked for the first time in program history, defeated Otterbein 97-74 in the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both schools.

Marietta remained perfect on the season improving to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in the OAC. Otterbein falls to 3-3 on the season and 0-1 in the OAC.

Junior Shay Lett helped the Pioneers shake off some early foul trouble scoring 11 of her 16 points in the first half. Marietta led 42-31 at halftime.

"Shay played a great game for us tonight, especially in the first half when we had three starters with two fouls," Marietta head coach Kole Vivian said. "She willed us to that double-digit lead going into the half. After the break we came out with a 19-2 run to break it open. We have been talking about competing for an OAC championship since the end of last year, and we took that first big step tonight."

Senior Brooke Borich hit a trio of three-pointers and led the Pioneers with 18 points. Lett and Amisha Herd each scored 16 points. Lett sank four shots from behind the arc, while Herd dished out seven assists.

Jenna Andersen added 11 points and freshman Laura Pullins chipped in with 10 points. Corrie Burkhardt grabbed a game-high nine rebounds.

Kiersten Taylor led all scorers with 20 points. She also grabbed a team-best seven rebounds. Dani Kissel scored 15 points and Ali Cartnal finished with 10.

For the game, Marietta shot 58.3% (35-of-60) from the floor, 64.3% (9-of-14) from three-point range and 75.0% (18-of-24) from the line. The Cardinals were 26-of-59 (44.1%) from the floor, 7-of-18 (38.9%) behind the arc and 15-of-24 (62.5%) at the line.

Marietta outrebounded Otterbein, 38-29. The Cardinals turned the ball over 18 times, while the Pioneers committed 15 turnovers.

Marietta travels to Berea on Saturday (Dec. 2) for a 3 p.m. game at Baldwin Wallace University.