County teams go 3-1 Thursday at Marion Classic

Written by AO Thursday, 11 December 2008 16:49

The Marion High School basketball teams overwhelmed the boys of Belle Plaine and the girls of Eureka Thursday night. The Peabody-Burns boys handled the Eureka boys, but the PBHS girls fell short in a tough matchup against the Belle Plaine girls. Both Marion teams earned berths in Saturday's championship games.

The MHS girls made short work of Eureka behind 13 first-half points from Kristen Steinborn and an 11-for-15 shooting night from Julia Zeiner. Marion opened up a 19-7 lead during the first half, running off an 11-1 run after the Tornadoes used a 5-0 run to lift themselves out of an 8-1 hole. Kayley Heerey buried a right wing trey with 2 seconds left in the frame, and 14 points in the contest.

Eureka played its best quarter against the Marion press during the second frame, but allowed the Warriors to score 22 points, effectively ending the contest with a halftime score of 41-18. Eureka closed within 24-16 on a basket by Kathleen McKenzie, but Marion used a 17-2 run to slam the door on the first half. Zeiner, Lindsay Hett, Heerey, Steinborn, Danae Edwards and Kristen Geis all scored during the decisive stretch. When Eureka showed signs of life early in the third quarter, the Warriors lowered the boom with baskets by Hett and Heerey in rapid succession igniting another stretch of overwhelming offense. A basket by Bridgett Lundy made it 51-26 with 3:36 left in the third and, with Zeiner leading the way, Marion rolled off 20 straight points over the final 12 minutes.

Marion finally eased up when the tally hit 67-26 on Zeiner's 6-footer of an inbounds pass from Heerey with just over six minutes left in the game. Emily Hett capped the scoring with a 12-footer with 10 seconds to go, and became the ninth Marion girl to register a made field goal. Steinborn finished with 15 and Zeiner led all scorers with 22.

The Warrior boys had a tougher time with Belle Plaine, but nonetheless led 30-17 at halftime. The key sequence came early in the first quarter, when the Marion defense stiffened after allowing the Dragons to climb out of an early 5-2 hole. Trailing 6-5, Eric Vogel knocked down a short jump shot that kicked off an 8-0 run to end the first. Elliot Hett followed Vogel's basket with a layup that precipitated a Belle Plaine timeout with 2:53 to go in the quarter, but the Marion defense forced jump balls on back-to-back possessions, the second of which sustained the run following a floater by Mitchell Leppke. Brian Fruechting threw in a hook shot with 1:30 to go, and the quarter ended with MHS up 13-6.

Luke Gordon dominated the early part of the second quarter, pushing the Warriors lead to 16-8 with a 10-foot fallaway jump shot and then to 20-8 with a jumper from the elbow. Gordon also blocked two shots defensively during the sequence. Two short range field goals by Vogel helped Marion blunt a Dragons charge. Vogel hit a 6-footer that made it 22-10 and stole the ball from an unwary defensive rebounder underneath the Marion hoop and put in a layup that made it 26-14.

In the third quarter, Vogel figured prominently in the sequence that gave Marion its largest lead of the evening. He knocked down a tough shot after making a power move in the post, then assisted on a Fruechting layup with a slick interior pass. Belle Plaine dialed up its desperation in the fourth quarter and outscored the Warriors 17-9, but never closed the gap within 16.

Peabody-Burns games——

The  PBHS girls were outscored 24-6 in the first half—8-2 in the first quarter—and did not find their rhythm until the final frame, when they took the play to Belle Plaine and outscored the Dragons 12-4. Danielle Savage led the Warriors with 6 points and 6 rebounds. PBHS was outrebounded 43-26 and committed 29 turnovers.

The PBHS boys used a 17-2 run in the first quarter to establish their advantage, and carried a 23-12 lead into halftime. A 17-6 run in the third quarter put the game out of reach, and the teams played to a 12-12 draw in the fourth quarter. Jacob Simmonds led all scorers with 21 points on 10-for-14 shooting, and seven other Warriors tallied: Martin Hoffkamp (6 points), Caleb Hilliard (6), Jacob Middleton (6), Aaron Topham (5), Brian Wingert (4), Brian O'Neal (3) and Joe Zappone (1). PBHS recorded 25 steals and forced 39 turnovers. Simmonds 10 steals led the Warrior defense gave him a double-double. Topham had five, O'Neal and Middleton each had three and Zappone and Wingert each had two.

Thomas Lowe posted a 14 points, 10 rebounds double-double for Eureka.

Both Marion and Peabody have Friday off, and both play Saturday. Marion plays in the championships at 6 and 8 p.m. against Friday's winners. The PBHS girls will play for seventh place at 11:30 a.m. in the elementary school gym. The PBHS boys play for fifth place at 1:15 in the main gym.