For most of the season, the inability to grab offensive rebounds has been disappointing for the Wilmington College women's basketball team.

With the game hanging in the balance, the Fightin' Quakers pulled down a pair of offensive boards to help secure the hard fought, 63-59, win over Marietta in Ohio Athletic Conference action at Fred Raizk Arena in Hermann Court.

"Honestly, I was unhappy with our offensive rebounding all night long," said Wilmington head coach Jerry Scheve. "I am been unhappy with our offensive rebounding all year. I think we have gotten a lot better on the defensive end, but we are not a team that attacks the offensive glass. So, to get a couple of key rebounds like that at the end of the game was huge for us."

Marietta got to chances on its ensuing possession, and had a potential lead-taking three-pointer roll off the rim with 14 seconds remaining. After making nine of its first 12 three-pointers, including going 8-of-11 in the first half, the Pioneers missed their final nine attempts from beyond the arc.

Senior Courtney Tucker (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) was fouled during the scrum following the missed three-points. She missed the front end of the one-and-one, but found a way to pulled down the offensive board. Instead of attempting run off more clock, Tucker attacked the basket and was fouled on the lay-up. Although she missed the free throw, the Wilmington lead was two possessions with eight seconds remaining.

Prior to the offensive rebounds, sophomore Brittany Jefferson (Dayton, OH/Chaminade Julienne) drilled the biggest shot of the game. Immediately after Marietta took a three-point lead with a little over five minutes remaining, Jefferson connected on a three-pointer to pull WC even.

It would be the last points until Haeseker's free throws by either team.

"Both teams knuckled down in the second half defensively to where we both were having a difficult time scoring," said Scheve. "We gutted it out at the end, and we have been good at doing that all year."

Thanks to the aforementioned Marietta marksmanship, the Pioneers took a four-point lead into the half.

"I was happy with how we were playing," said Scheve. "I thought we played a really good first half. I told them at half, that we could not guard them at all in the second half and they are not going to go 8-for-11 again. But, it would be a good idea to pick up the pressure a little bit."

The defensive pressure played a huge part in Wilmington ability to hold the Pioneers to just 16 points in the second half. Marietta was just 7-of-31 (22.6 percent) from the field over the final 20 minutes.

"We played hard the whole game," said Scheve. "My big message today was that we had to compete. We have proved we are not good enough to just walk into a gym and beat anyone in this league if we don't play with 100 percent effort, and we did that today."

Tucker finished with a game-high 18 points, six rebounds, four steals and four assists to lead the Fightin' Quakers. Jefferson added 11 points and two steals, while Haeseker recorded eight points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

Wilmington (12-9 overall, 7-7 OAC) travels to Otterbein 7:30 p.m. Wednesday for another OAC tilt. WC posted the 71-59 win over the Cardinals on January 21.