ORIGINALLY WRITTEN TOM STOPPEL
Playing its third game in five days Saturday, Marion hosted Hesston in a game postponed Feb. 8. The Warriors played hard against the state-ranked Swathers, but lost 68-51.
“We had too many errors and our fouls killed us,” coach Daryl Enos said. “We had 44 turnovers and against a team as good as Hesston. The fact we stayed as close as we did wasn’t that bad.”
Trailing 16-10 after one quarter, the Warriors played nose to nose with the talented Swathers in the second quarter and trailed 38-31 at halftime.
“We were feeling pretty good about things,” Enos said. “We thought if we could clean up our turnovers and keep playing hard, we could win this game.”
Although the Warriors shot the ball well the entire game (22- 46, 48 percent), they weren’t able to fix their turnover situation.
Enos said his team shot well enough to win but failed to do enough other things well.
“Hesston just had one more field goal than we did, but our fouling was untimely and atrocious,” he said. “But we shot the ball well.”
Marion made only five of 10 free-throws while Hesston connected on 20 of 29.
Leading Marion’s attack was Toni Gordon, with 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Allie Maddox, who chipped in 10 points.
“Toni had a very good game,” Enos said. “She’s come to play the last couple of games and I’m very happy with her.”
With the loss, Marion falls to 7-12 overall and 2-8 in MCAA play.
Haven-Marion dropped a 60-35 decision at Haven on Friday night.
The Warriors struggled shooting the basketball, hitting just 10 of 56 (18 percent) from the field including one of 16 (6 percent) from beyond the 3-point arc.
“It’s hard to win when you can’t score,” coach Daryl Enos said. “We actually played pretty well. We only had 13 turnovers and we rebounded well, but we just could not score.”
Haven led 11-6 after one quarter and 32-15 by halftime.
But Marion rallied in the third quarter, cutting the deficit to five points. But that would be as close as the Warriors would get.
Haven connected on back-to-back 3-point baskets and the rest was history.
“Once they hit those shots, we kind of started hanging our heads and we just couldn’t close the gap any further,” Enos said.
Leading the way for Marion was Allie Maddox with 10 points while Toni Gordon added seven points and eight rebounds.
Marion made 14 of 18 free throws (78 percent) compared to Haven’s 16 of 18 (89 percent) from the stripe.
“In retrospect, looking at the stats and who did what and how we played, I feel all right about this game,” Enos said. “We still want to win just as badly as we ever have, but we played hard and that’s all I can ask.”
With the loss, Marion fell to 7-11 overall and 2-7 in MCAA play.
Halstead-The Marion girls picked up a big home win Tuesday night against Halstead, 51-40.
“It was a nice win for us,” coach Daryl Enos said. “We put together four solid quarters and had two girls score in double figures.”
Toni Gordon and Leann Thomas both scored 13 points for Marion.
The Warriors led top 16-10 after one quarter and 30-22 by halftime.
Keying the surge was Marion’s ball handling, which produced only three turnovers in the first half.
“It was a really good half for us in that respect,” Enos said.
Although Halstead cut the lead to 40-34 after three quarters, Marion finished with an 11-6 fourth quarter advantage.
Enos said the inside play of Gordon and Thomas was an advantage Marion needed.
“We had a pretty good inside game and we took a lot of shots,” he said. “We had some nice interior offense for a change.”
Marion made 17 of 45 field goals attempts (32 percent) including three of 15 from the 3-point line. Halstead made 14 of 44 from the field (32 percent) and one of seven shots from the 3-point arc.
The Warriors made 14 of 22 free throws while Halstead made 11 of 23.
“I was very pleased with the way we played,” Enos said. “We had girls scrapping all night long and it was fun to watch.”
With the victory, Marion improved to 7-10 overall and 2-6 in MCAA play.
Coming-Marion was scheduled to conclude its regular season Tuesday with a home game against Sterling.
Sub-state action begins next week. Tournament pairings will be posted on the Free Press Web site when they become available.
