WESTERVILLE, OHIO – Otterbein held Marietta to just nine points over the first 13 minutes of action and never looked back on its way to an 89-61 victory Wednesday evening in the Rike Center.

The win gives the Cards back-to-back victories for the first time this season, moving them to 6-9 overall and 3-5 in Ohio Athletic Conference play. Marietta falls to 3-11 on the season, 1-6 in league action.

The game was tied at 5-5 early, but Otterbein scampered on a 22-4 run over the next ten minutes to take a 27-9 lead with 6:38 to play before halftime.

OC would take a 44-29 lead into the break.

The Pioneers came out of halftime firing, going on a 14-8 run and cutting the deficit to 52-43 at the 15:32 mark.

Otterbein responded to score 14 of the game’s next 15 points, widening the lead to 66-44 with 11:42 remaining.

Marietta was never able to make another serious push down the stretch as the Cards earned the 89-61 victory.

Senior guard Karli Volkmer came off the Cardinal bench, hit eight of her first nine shots and led all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting.  

The sophomore backcourt tandem of Kristi Kotterman and Shea McCoy combined to shoot 13-of-20 and contribute 17 and 15 points, respectively.

Sophomore Katie Stallard flirted with a triple-double, finishing the contest with an all-around effort of eight points, eight rebounds, and seven assists in just 22 minutes.

Heather Blair led Marietta with 15 points.

Otterbein shot a blistering .559 from the field, and out-rebounded the Pioneers 48-34.

The team next travels to play Baldwin-Wallace, now winners of six straight, Saturday afternoon in Berea. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.