Owls comeback bid falls short at Tomsich

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GAMBIER, Ohio — The Kenyon College women’s basketball team got 27 points off the bench, including a season- and team-high 17 points from first-year Antonia Marzini, but it wasn’t enough to catch up to the Grove City College Wolverines, who held on for a 69-66 win at Tomsich Arena on Tuesday evening.

The Wolverines (4-2) took control from the start, leaning on a defense that forced seven Kenyon turnovers and held the Owls to just 4-of-17 shooting (23.5 percent) over those first 10 minutes of play. Grove City, however, struggled with turnovers too, but managed to build a 15-8 lead by the end of the quarter.

Kenyon collected itself between quarters and cleaned things up on the offensive end. The Owls scored on seven straight possessions with seven points coming off turnovers. Free throws and a three-pointer from Kiana Mollabashy started the run. Marzini then came off the bench and poured in eight straight points, including two three-point field goals, the second of which gave the Owls a 21-19 lead.

Alyssa Horsley kept things rolling for the Owls by dumping in four more points, putting Kenyon ahead 34-25 at halftime. Over the course of the second quarter, Kenyon outscored Grove City 26-10.

Kenyon bumped its lead up to as many as 11 points in the third quarter, but the Wolverines went on a run of their own, closing out the frame on a 12-3 burst that narrowed Kenyon’s lead to just two points, at 53-51, heading into the final quarter.

The Wolverines continued to ride that momentum and regained the lead at 56-55 with 5:38 left in the game. They opened up a four-point lead multiple times over the next few minutes, but another three-ball from Marzini gave Kenyon a 66-65 lead with 1:18 left.

From there, neither team was able to make another field goal. Grove City drained a pair of free throws with 39 seconds left and another pair with 10 seconds left. That gave Kenyon one final attempt to tie things up, but the Grove City defense forced the Owls into a desperation shot that was off the mark.

Marzini’s 17 points came on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from long range, and 1-of-2 at the free throw line. Senior center Anissa Hardy helped out with her first double-double of the season, as she tossed in 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Mollabashy finished with nine points, and Susannah Zimmerman added eight points, eight assists, and six rebounds for the Owls, who fell to 3-3 with the loss.

Following the Thanksgiving break, Kenyon will jump back into action with a home game against Capital University on Monday, December 1.