Enough was enough.
After a four-game losing streak and no Ohio Athletic Conference wins since January, the Heidelberg women were looking for a performance to stop both skids.
They found what they were looking for Saturday afternoon.
Outside of two short periods of tied basketball in the first half, Heidelberg led Marietta the entire way and dropped the Pioneers 75-61.
"They just played with an intensity today, and our bench was awesome," said Heidelberg coach Marcie Alberts. "Everybody that played contributed. Even the kids that didn't play contributed because they were so vocal. That's what you got to have, a team effort."
"Our confidence is very lifted right now," Heidelberg junior guard Kathleen Phillips added. "Now that we have a win under our belt in the conference, we can take that and learn to play hard like that."
Fact Box
Marietta 75, Heidelberg 63
Marietta (6-2, 3-0): Scott Kimmey 1-0-2; Tyler Hammond 5-0-11; Brennan McKean 4-0-8; J.J. Martin 10-2-24; Jason Humphrey 1-0-2; Jacob Owens 2-0-5; A.J. Ireland 0-0-0; Luis Garcia 3-0-8; Matt Napier 4-0-8; Garrett Stephenson 3-0-6. Totals: 33-2-75.
Heidelberg (4-5, 0-4): Quintin Aden Jr. 1-0-3; Dane Givner 5-4-15; Ishaam Smith Jr. 3-0-9; Jackson Blue 1-0-2; Nate Davis 6-0-12; Mike Petrie 0-0-0; Lee Renner 2-0-6; Ricky Slaughter 3-0-6; Jack Hart 0-0-0; Frank Longhino 1-0-2; Josh Pollner 1-0-2; Doug Waldmannstetter 1-4-6.
Halftime: Marietta, 39-28.
Field goals: Marietta 33-63; Heidelberg 24-59.
3-point goals: Marietta 7-13 (Garcia 2, Martin 2); Heidelberg 7-26 (Smith Jr. 3)
Foul shots: Marietta 2-5; Heidelberg 8-8.
Rebounds: Marietta 29 (Napier 5); Heidelberg 32 (Davis 8).
Turnovers: Marietta 6; Heidelberg 13.
Assists: Marietta 9 (Hammond 3); Heidelberg 10 (Givner 3).
Heidelberg held a nine point advantage, 40-31, at halftime, and gradually stretched out that lead in the second half, not letting the Pioneers mount any serious rally.
This was in contrast to Wednesday's game at Hiram, a game the Student Princes lost at the buzzer, where Heidelberg couldn't build on a lead and let the Terriers keep things close.
For Alberts, this win was especially nice coming off a heartbreaking loss.
"Especially dropping the way we did on Wednesday, a game that we all thought we coulda, shoulda won," she said. "To lose the way we did, to have our kids come back, I told them after Wednesday's game, 'hopefully we'll learn from it and come conference time we can build on it and when we're in that situation again we can get the win."
Only for a few short moments in the first half was Marietta able to draw even with the Student Princes. The rest of the game was all Heidelberg.
Marietta tied the game at 21 with a little under eight minutes to play in the first half before Heidelberg took the lead for good thanks to Kathleen Phillips. The junior knocked down a 3-pointer to put her team back ahead, and went on a personal 7-0 to keep control of the game on Heidelberg's side.
"It was going through my mind that I knew that I needed to score to help lift us," Phillips said. "Try to take the leadership role and keep on going."
Marietta coach Stacia Shrider, a former Heidelberg assistant, said her team got away from its game plan, that including containing Phillips.
"I'm not really happy obviously with our results here. We had a game plan and then once the game started we just went our own separate ways," she said. "We talked about how we wanted to defend Phillips the entire time and how we needed to look to get the ball inside."
Phillips was also key in stopping any run Marietta tried to go on in the second half.
The Pioneers came out of the locker room and cut the lead to five. Then Phillips answered with a jumper.
With under 12 minutes to play the Pioneers worked the lead down to four. Then Phillips answered with a 3-pointer.
"That's what we couldn't do on Wednesday, that's why we lost the game," Alberts said. "I was really proud of tonight. I think they cut it to five at one point. We pushed it back to 11 and you can see Marietta kind of slump the shoulders a little bit. That's a sign that we got them.
"At one time out I told them 'we're race car drivers. Keep your foot on the gas and don't take it off.' It's a credit our kids stepped up."
Phillips gave credit to the team's improved communication, and attention to scouting reports as the reasons it prevented any sustained Marietta run.
"Our communication helped us out a lot," she said. "We struggled with that last year. We studied our scouting report and talked about who we needed to stop on their team, who their playmakers were so they couldn't get one of their good players hot. "
Phillips' 25 points led four Student Princes in double figures. Jordan Ickes added 15 and Paige Ricketts chipped in 10. Kyra Dorney came off the bench and nearly put up a double-double, scoring 10 and collecting a team-high nine rebounds.
"Kyra played a very good game," Alberts said. "I always tell her she's our energy coming off the bench. She did that tonight for us. We need that from her again on Monday (against John Carroll). She played phenomenal coming in. She was one of our four in double digits. When you can get a bench kid coming in and scoring in doubles, that's always going to be a good thing."
Heidelberg evens its record at 4-4, 1-2 OAC. Marietta falls to 4-5, 1-4 OAC.
