Hetts Lift Marion to 42-39 win vs. Council

The Marion High School girls basketball team thrashed Council Grove 68-39 Friday. Marion used a 21-9 second quarter to open a 37-20 halftime lead, and never looked back. Julia Zeiner scored 21 points, Lindsay Hett had 15, Kayley Heerey notched 12 and Kristen Steinborn finished with 12 as the Warriors forced 31 turnovers and scored 29 points on the bonus possessions.

The MHS boys stood on Isaac Hett's shoulders during a furious rally during the final two minutes of Friday's 42-39 win over the Braves. Elliot Hett opened the door for a late comeback after the Braves turned the Warriors 18-15 halftime lead into a 33-25 deficit midway through the fourth. Having struggled through a night full of difficult shots and near misses, Elliot Hett drained a pullup jumper and followed with a left wing trey at 2:40. The latter shot made it a 1-point game, and Council Grove responded with a heavy-handed couple of series to restore its lead to 35-32.

Eric Vogel answered for Marion, knocking down a pair of foul shots at 2:04?only minutes after the Warriors missed four straight free throws. Brock Frye replied with a 2-pointer for the Braves, but the Warriors owned the subsequent seconds.

Vogel started the sequence with a step-through layup, and Isaac Hett blitzed the ensuing inbounds play, emerging from hyperspace to steal the pass and score a lead-changing layup more quickly than the stunned Braves around him could contest. Marion came out of the subsequent time out with a full-court press look, forcing the inbounds pass to go to Brandon Dugan just outside the Warriors' 3-point arc. After one or two dribbles, Isaac Hett forced Dugan to turn and poked the ball away when Dugan tried to spin past him. He collected the loose ball and was fouled from behind, and made both free throws to push Marion's lead to 40-37 with 1:25 left.

Isaac Hett stole the ball again on Council Grove's next possession, going to the floor to gain control and calling time out from his back to win the ball for Marion. The Warriors cycled the ball from Elliot to Isaac to kill some clock before the inevitable foul, and Isaac all but killed the Braves' chances with a 1-for-2 trip to the line that put Marion up four with 46 seconds remaining.

Sean Carr hit a layup and drew Vogel's fourth personal at the other end, but missed the freebie with 27 seconds left, leaving the Warriors ahead 41-39. Marion again played keepaway, moving the ball to Elliot, who was hacked with 14 seconds left. He split at the foul line, and Council Grove called timeout to draw up a play for a last-ditch 3-pointer?which Elliot disrupted almost completely, forcing Derek Ziegenhirt into his seventh miss from the arc on the night.

Elliot Hett finished with 13 points, Vogel finished with 12, and Isaac Hett totaled 8 points to go with six steals.

 

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