ALLIANCE, Ohio -- The Mount Union women's basketball team fell short against Ohio Athletic Conference opponent Marietta, 67-62, Wednesday at the McPherson Academic and Athletic Complex in their first loss at home this season. 

The Purple Raiders (13-3, 6-3 OAC) were led by senior guard Rachel Tinkey (Canfield) as she scored 18 points and grabbed four rebounds while sophomore forward Sarah Hessel (Avon Lake) tabbed a team-high nine rebounds. 

Marietta had four players in double figures, with Alexis Enochs ahead of the group scoring 19 points, as they move to 10-6 overall and 5-4 in the conference. 

Marietta and Mount Union exchanged leads six times and tied three in the first quarter, with the largest lead being by three points on both ends. Elena Rauhe (Seven Hills/Padua Francsican) strung together a layup and a three-pointer to lead the offense and tie the score at 10-10 with just over four minutes remaining. After knotting it up again at 16-16 with 41 seconds to go, Marietta was able to close out the quarter ahead of the Raiders, 19-16, on a three-point play for Bailee Brooks. 

Second quarter, Marietta contained their advantage and extended it slightly at four points. A Tinkey-jumper put the Raiders ahead by one, 27-26, for the first time in the quarter which was part of a 7-2 Mount Union run, powered by Tinkey and Zanny Sauter (Avon). The Raiders ended the half ahead 31-30, after holding the Pioneers to just nine points.

Tinkey and Tori Rappach (Warren/Howland) opened the third quarter with back-to-back buckets, allowing Mount Union to claim their largest lead at 36-30 with 8:34 on the clock. Marietta kept chipping away, tying to the Raiders twice in the final five minutes of the quarter. A personal 4-0 run by Marietta's Enochs tied the score for a third time, 48-48, as she ended the quarter on a buzzer beating jumper in the paint.

Mount Union struck first once again in the fourth quarter on a strong post-move by Jaime Sanborn (Twinsburg) under the basket in the first possession. For the next 9:29, Mount Union and Marietta saw a pair of ties and seven lead changes. After being tied at 58 apiece, Marietta was able to close out the game on a 9-4 run to win, 67-62.

The Raiders next play at Wilmington in an OAC game with a start time of 1 p.m.