Trojans Nearly Pull Off the Upset yet Fall to No. 6 Marian by Seven
INDIANAPOLIS – At the end of a nail-biting second half, the Taylor University women’s basketball team lost to No. 6 Marian (20-2, 12-0) by a score of 57-50. The Trojans came out of the half in a fury, cultivating a nine-point lead with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter, yet Marian answered with a 16-0 run late in the fourth to pull off the seven-point victory.
As a team, Taylor shot at a 28.8-percent clip from the field in each quarter other than a 40-percent third. In that third frame, Taylor terrorized Marian on defense, holding the Knights to a 28.6-percent shooting percentage of their own. In the end, the defensive pressure would not hold, though, as Marian shot 71.4 percent from the floor in the final 10 minutes.
Sophomore forward, Taylor Westgate, collected her 11th double-double of the season, posting 14 points in tandem with 13 rebounds. 10 of Westgate’s points came in the third quarter, as the sophomore proved pivotal in the Trojans’ trek to take the lead.
Claycee West was the sole Trojan to accompany Westgate in the double-digit point category, as the sophomore guard racked in 11 of her own, nine of which came from three-point land.
Senior forward, Kayla Kirtley, contributed eight points in addition to nine boards, meanwhile fellow seniors, Lauren James and Merideth Deckard, rounded out the starting lineup with six points each.
Five first-quarter turnovers halted the Taylor offense, as the Trojans scored just nine points in the opening frame. Three momentous three-pointers, however, and lights out defense in the second quarter enabled the Trojans to enter the half down just two points.
The third-quarter surge was fueled almost entirely by Westgate and West, as the sophomore duo combined for 15 of the team’s 17 points, not to mention three big-time three-point field goals.
Taylor took the court in the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead, which only served all-too-motivating for the home team as Marian outpaced the Trojans 24 points to 10 in the final frame, including the devastating 16-0 run toward the game’s end.
The Trojans (10-10, 4-4) are set to be back in action on Wednesday, February 2nd, at 7:00 pm, when they take on Mount Vernon Nazarene (13-10, 7-4) inside Odle Arena for Taylor’s first home game since December 16th, 2021.