TIFFIN – Finally.

The first word uttered in a postgame interview by Heidelberg University women's basketball head coach Morgan Shriver was an emotive response to a hard fought 73-65 win over Marietta College.

The win snapped a five-game slide for the Student Princes and marked their first conference win of the campaign.

THREE STARS

With 10 points and 16 rebounds, sophomore Carli Patrick recorded her fourth straight double-double.

Marisa Liburdi led all scorers with 18 points off the bench for Heidelberg. The junior transfer also added four rebounds.

Junior Shelby Dearth knocked down three 3-pointers, two of which came in a key 11-1 run late in the second half.

FIRST HALF

Heidelberg (2-5, 1-2 OAC) withstood a 6-0 Pioneer run at the onset and quickly fought their way back into the game. A layup by Liburdi capped an 8-0 response and gave Heidelberg its first lead, 8-6, with 14:31 remaining.

Marietta (4-4, 1-2 OAC) and Heidelberg remained neck-and-neck throughout the remainder of the period, with neither team leading by more than four. Dearth's first 3-pointer tied the game at 32 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.

SECOND HALF

As they did to start, Marietta opened the second half on a 6-0 run, but a layup by Allie Hawkins finished a 9-2 Heidelberg run and gave the Tricolor a one-point lead.

The contest remained tight until the final five minutes. With the game tied at 56, a 3-pointer by Jackie Abrecht ignited a decisive 11-1 run. Dearth's final 3-pointers came as part of the rally, which put Heidelberg on top 67-57 with 1:30 to play.

With the Pioneers fouling to try to extend the game, the Student Princes connected on 6-of-7 from the line to ice the game. A Marietta layup in the game's final seconds gave HU a 73-65 win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Heidelberg shot 50% (5 of 10) from beyond the arc, well above their 23.2% average heading into the game.

Four Student Princes finished in double-figures, with Abrecht (10 points) joining Liburdi, Dearth and Patrick.

Heidelberg shot 52.3% from the floor while the Pioneers were held to 38.6%.

The win was Heidelberg's third-straight over Marietta, whose head coach Stacia Shrider is a former HU assistant.

NOTABLE QUOTES

Head Coach Morgan Shriver on fixing mistakes: "Since the beginning, none of us have really played to our potential ... we see it in practice, but when we come out into games, we come out flat or nervous ... we keep telling everyone to play with their heart and to play to their potential. We knew that game after game, we weren't getting into the win column, but we kept improving. The things we were messing up were correctable. In the last game, we have 27 turnovers ... this game we ended up with 19, but only seven were in the second half, so there was a big turn-around with that."

Shriver on defense and rebounding: "Defensively, we were really trying to work on that in practice and stressing the importance of defense and rebounding and always winning that rebounding war ... we see that most of the time when we do win that rebounding war, we come out victorious at the end of the game. Getting back to feeding off each other and the teamwork ... I think that was a big thing for us ... really trusting in each other.

Shriver on the key 3-point shots: "Our 3-point shots hadn't been falling in the other games, so we decided to be more selective in that ... so instead of shooting 20-plus, we shot 10 and made 5."

Post player Marisa Liburdi on her presence on the post: "I know that in the past few games I haven't really been playing to my full potential, so I came into this game and said that I was going to be strong in the post, I was going to attack and get fouled, and not be so weak like I had been in the past few games ... I had to slow down to keep my composure. I was definitely happy with that.

Liburdi on shooting 10-of-13 from the line: "I was nervous because I was 1-for-4 to start out with and then I kept hitting them ... I was nervous at first because they weren't falling, but I kept my composure and I definitely adjusted my shot and kept calm. I think 10-of-13 from this line is decent ... decent for me, anyway. "

Forward Shelby Dearth on the team's effort: "I think that this past week in practice, we've really gotten back to playing as a team and playing more relaxed. I give all the credit to my teammates for looking to me and getting me those shots. I think just relaxing and having confidence in myself and my teammates that we're going to do the right things ... that really drove us today."

Forward Carli Patrick on excelling on the boards: "I normally go in with a rebounding mentality because I know that the more rebounds I can get the more I can kick out to my shooters on the outside and the more points our team can convert.

Patrick on Liburdi's presence in the paint: "I love having Marisa down low. When we first brought her in, I thought, 'Holy cow, we have an actual Five, I can go back to being a Four and have girls my size and don't have to go against huge, meaty girls ... it's nice to play against someone who's my size. They leave me wide open back side because they're all focused on Marisa, which works out for our game plan."

UP NEXT

Heidelberg returns to action next Saturday at Wittenberg. The women's game tips off at 1 p.m.