"Our shooting was off and we just couldn't get anything to fall," said Erin Carr after their 54-49 loss at Marion Friday night.

"We were too impatient, shooting the ball before looking for a better open pass."

During the first few minutes of the game the Warriors led by four points. Low rebounding and turnovers soon had them struggling to keep the lead. By the first break, Hoisington had pulled ahead, 18-16.

During the second quarter Hoisington outscored Marion 12-8, creating a 30-24 lead going into halftime. The Warriors were shooting a low 29 percent from the field while the Cardinals were at 43 percent.

After halftime, neither team changed strategies. The Warriors struggled to find a press that would stop the strong fast breaks of the Cardinals.

Not having much luck, Marion soon dropped back into a zone defense. This shut down the Cardinals for a short time-but long enough for the Warriors to outscore them in the quarter, 12-10.

Aggressive play put both teams in foul trouble entering the fourth quarter. The Cardinals had three starters with three fouls while Marion's Carr had four fouls and Toni Gordon and Allie Maddox each had three.

The Warriors chances for a win looked good when they cut the lead to four points early in the period. But in the middle of the quarter, Carr was relegated to the bench with her fifth foul after scoring five points to her team. She also had two rebounds and four assists.

Still, the Warriors trailed only by three points with 41 seconds to play. The Warriors put up a 3-pointer to tie the game. But it missed the mark, the Cardinals rebounded the ball and quickly retreated to their end of the court. A final 2-point shot put the final margin at five points.

Leading the Warriors in scoring were senior Allie Maddox with 19 points, including a 3-pointer and two free throws. Gordon followed with 15 points, including 11 from the field and one 3-pointer. Megan Hudson contributed 10 points, including three of four shots from behind the arc.

Asked what she thought the Warriors could have done differently in the end, Carr said, "We could have pressed a little more and little harder and maybe could have pulled it out."

Coming-Marion (3-4, 0-1) was scheduled to take on state-ranked and undefeated Wichita Collegiate (6-0, 2-0) on Tuesday, then will play host to Ellinwood (5-1, 2-0) on Friday. Tip-off is set for around 6:30 p.m.

Next week, the Warriors will compete in the Trojan Classic, hosted by Hillsboro and Marion. The tournament seedings and pairings will be released Wednesday and will be posted on the Free Press Web site.