Marion earns split to close out season

Written by Katie Morford Wednesday, 22 February 2012 00:24

The tables were turned tonight as the Marion girls took home a 41-34 win over Sedgwick, but the boys fell to the Cardinals, 49-38. The girls rode a strong fourth quarter to victory, but the boys never could find their offensive stride, struggling against a bigger and aggressive Cardinal defense. 

BOYS - If the Marion boys' win over then-fourth-ranked Sedgwick a few weeks ago was the Warriors' magical moment, tonight it was the Cardinal's turn. Marion came out extremely flat, unable to score inside against the size and intensity of the Sedgwick defense. The perimeter shooting that pulled them out against Inman and Bennington was noticeably lacking against the Cardinals. Though they got some shots off all night long, Marion could not get the ball to fall. 

But perhaps it just was not the Warriors' night. They struggled to get going offensively, allowing Sedgwick 12 unanswered points in the first seven minutes of play until Harper finally sank a three-pointer to close out the first quarter.

He followed it up with a basket to start out the second quarter. Marion would score seven more points in the period, including a basket from three-point range from Mikael Antoszyk, but Sedgwick would still out-score the Warriors to make it 23-12 at the break.

The second half wasn't much better, as Sedgwick came out with a 9-0 scoring burst to give them a 32-12 lead at 5:01 before Marion finally started hitting some shots to keep them in the game. But the Cardinals still scored eight more points then the Warriors in the quarter, taking a 41-22 lead at the end of the third. 

Marion picked up the pace a bit in the final period, out-scoring Sedgwick, 17-8, but it was too little, too late, to overcome the deficit from the previous three quarters. Marion drew within 11 points, but could never crack the Cardinal's double-digit lead despite a five-point scoring burst in the final 42 seconds.  

GIRLS - Marion kept pace with the Cardinals in the first quarter, trading baskets but allowing Sedgwick a 10-6 lead at the end of the period.

Play heated up in the second quarter, as Marion put together an 8-2 scoring burst that gave them a 14-12 lead. Sedgwick tied the game twice more before the Cardinals took a 20-17 lead going into the break.

The Warriors struggled early on in the second half, allowing Sedgwick to out-score them, 7-4, in the first 6:30 of play time. But Whitney Gordon scored on a rebound and Katey Ehrlich followed it up with a basket at 53 seconds to narrow the Cardinal's lead to 27-25 at the end of the quarter.

Ehrlich scored out of the gate to tie the game and Erin Meierhoff followed it up with a three-pointer at 6:20 to give Marion the lead, and help them out-score Sedgwick, 16-7, in the final period. Both teams swapped leads as the clock ran down, with Sedgwick drawing within three points of the Warriors, 37-34, with 49 seconds left. But Ehrlich and Gordon made four points in free throws in the final seconds to secure the seven-point win.