Marian Women's Basketball Clinches Share of 10th Crossroads League Regular Season Championship

Mount Vernon, Ohio - On Wednesday February 21, the Marian women's basketball team knocked off Mount Vernon Nazarene 72-42, making program history with the 30-point victory as the Knights not only set a program record for consecutive wins in a single season, but also clinched a share of their 10th Crossroads League Regular Season Championship. Marian's 24th consecutive win on the sesaon gives them a record of 17-0 in the Crossroads League, entering the regular season finale with an overall record of 26-1. 

Ella Collier led the Knights into an early lead scoring the first basket within the first minute of the quarter. The Knights continued to increase the lead by 6 points at the midway point of the quarter. Collier leads off scoring at the end of the quarter with 10 points in total. Abbey McNally and Sara Majorosova lead the Knights in rebounds with two rebounds each to end the quarter.

In the beginning of the second quarter Aliyah Evans, Majorosova, McNally, and Collier continued to all bring the energy with a quick layup each and McNally making two bringing the lead into double digits over the Cougars before the half point mark of the quarter. After the midway point Collier made a quick jump shot bringing her total scoring to 14 points in total. During the last few minutes of the quarter Allison Bosse made a jump shot, with Kinnidy Garrard making a layup and Tamia Perryman making a pair, one being within the last seconds of the quarter bringing the game to a 16-point lead in favor of the Knights.

To end off the first half Collier leads in scoring with 14 points in total with, Bosse and McNally very close behind with 6 points each. McNally also led the Knights in rebounds to end the quarter with three rebounds in total, and Collier, Evans, Majorosova, Garrard, and Jayla Wehner not very far behind with two rebounds each.
 
The Knights got a late start into the third quarter with McNally scoring four free throws bringing her total to 6-6 free throws for the day. At the 6 minute point Collier brought the fire making a 3-pointer jump shot and a regular jump shot bringing the game to a 19 point lead in favor of the Knights. At the halfway point McNally and Perryman brought the game to a 22-point lead in favor of the Knights with a good free throw by McNally and a quick layup by Perryman. The Knights end of the quarter with a 26-point lead over the Cougars, sitting in control with a 54-28 lead after holding the hosts to eight points for the second-straight period. 

After a few minutes into the fourth quarter Olivia Faust brought back the energy against the Cougars with a quick 3-pointer jump shot bringing the game to a 24 point difference in favor of the Knights. Going into the midway point of the game the Knights brought the lead back up to a 28-point lead with the help of a layup by Collier and two layups by McNally. Esther Sevilla made a quick layup to continue the lead for the Knights. Eva Fisher threw up a quick 3-point jump shot to bring the game to a 30 point difference in favor of the Knights. Collier led the team in scoring with 19 points in total, and McNally not far behind with 17 points in total. McNally led the Knights in rebounds for the night with 7 rebounds in total, and Collier and Werner not far behind with 5 rebounds each.

Marian's Crossroads League Championship is the 10th in program history, and the first for the Knights since winning in 2021-22. Marian's win over Mount Vernon was also the 24th consecutive win this season, passing the previous best mark in a single season which was set by coach Katie Gearlds and her 2016-2017 team, who recorded 23 wins in-a-row to end their season, culminating in the program's second consecutive NAIA DII National Championship. The record for consecutive wins in program history is 27.

The Knights will be back at home for this Saturday, February 24th at 1:00 against Indiana Wesleyan for the last game of the regular season.

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