ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ANDREW JOST
A little cement in their shoes didn’t stop the Marion girls from taking care of Chase County Thursday night in their last game of the regular season, 62-46.
Despite his team’s dull performance, Marion coach Daryl Enos was satisfied to come out on top in what marks the Warriors’ final game in the disbanding Cottonwood Valley League.
“We were playing not to lose,” Enos said. “We were playing good enough not to lose, but not really good enough to break away.”
The visiting Bulldogs exchanged leads with the Warriors four times during the first quarter before Marion came out on top, 12-11. Though the Warriors never gave up the lead thereafter, they struggled to shake their opponent.
Holding Chase County scoreless for five minutes during the heart of the second quarter, Marion climbed ahead 26-14 with 1:35 remaining. But before halftime arrived, the Bulldogs put together a 6-2 run, shrinking the lead to 28-20.
“When we got that lead I thought, ‘OK, here we’re going to go,'” Enos said. “Now we’re just ahead eight.
“(Amber Schroer) hurt us bad in the first half,” he said. “They did some good things-and caught us with out backs turned and had some easy buckets on the backside.”
Enos was also uneasy with the way his team followed missed shots.
“I really hate to throw a wet towel on you, but we’re getting one shot and no other chances,” Enos said to his team at halftime. “That’s not really what we want.”
As the third quarter started, the Warriors saw their lead continue to fade when the Bulldogs climbed within four, 30-26, with 5:37 on the clock. Once again, though, Marion answered with an 8-1 run that set the Bulldogs again.
Marion hung to that familiar eight-point lead as the quarter ended.
In the final period, the Bulldogs remained only a stone’s throw away until they went scoreless through the final 2:44 while Marion’s Brandi Peterie-Shipman caught a fever, scoring 14 of her team’s last 18 points.
With that last surge, Peterie-Shipman led the Warriors in scoring at 26, followed by Caitlin O’Dell who had 12. Peterie-Shipman also blocked five shots.
On the other end, Chase County’s Schroer finished with 20 points.
The Warriors made 24 of 53 field-goal attempts for 45 percent while Chase County made only 15 of 56 for 27 percent.
Marion also earned 14 points at the line from 16 attempts, and the team picked up 17 steals.
“This just wasn’t one of our better games,” Enos said. “But we won.”
The Warriors closed the regular season with a league record of 10-2 and an overall mark of 14-6. They began sub-state action last night (Tuesday) by hosting Wichita Trinity.
Council Grove-Marion coach Daryl Enos said he had a night of solid four-quarter performers.
Firing on all cylinders, the Warrior girls pulled away from host Council Grove Tuesday night, outscoring their opponent through each quarter to win 72-49.
Three Warriors scored in double digits and five players contributed points in Marion’s 13th victory.
Enos said the Braves hung with his team for only a short time before his girls consistently widened the gap. With a strong start, Marion led at intermission, 43-30.
After halftime, the Warriors never allowed the Braves a window of opportunity into the game.
“We ran the floor well-that pretty much put them on their heels,” Enos said. “We ran them off the floor.”
With his team performing well on both ends of the court, Enos said he kept his girls fresh with heavy rotation off the bench.
“Basically, it came down to good solid defense,” he said.
Looking back, Enos said the third quarter decided the game.
“That was it-that was the winning quarter.”
The Warriors combined for 42 rebounds, 16 steals and five assists.
Marion hit 30 of 68 field-goal attempts for 44 percent and completed nine of 13 attempts from the free-throw line for 69 percent.
Caitlin O’Dell led Marion with 15 points, followed closely by Brandi Peterie-Shipman with 14 and Sarah Williams with 10. Peterie-Shipman had 13 rebounds, Emmy Bowers eight and Williams seven.
“It was just an all-around good night,” he said.
