Marion girls put up strong battles but still winless in MCAA

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN ERIN RICHMOND
The Marion girls battled hard but came up on the short end of an 80-77 double-overtime decision against Lyons on Friday.

Marion took the lead early and held it through most of the first quarter. Leading 22-7 with 2:27 to go, Lyons started to rally. A last-second shot by Lauren Mausolf brought the Lions to within nine at the first break.

The Lions continued to gain ground in the second quarter. Baskets by Mausolf, Nikki Kratzer, Kiley Loesch and Damara Lewis brought them to within four points by halftime.

For the first half, Marion shot 60 percent and Lyons 44 percent.

Even scoring in the second half kept the margin within five points. Toni Gordon scored 10 of Marion’s 15 points during the third quarter.

After Erin Carr picked up her third foul with 19 seconds left, Mausolf hit a jumper at the buzzer to cut Marion’s lead to two points at the end of three quarters.

Loesch started the fourth quarter with a basket to tie the game at 53. The Lions then took their first lead when Shelley Burgess scored at the 2:29 mark.

A basket by Gordon with 1:09 left put Marion ahead 66-63. Two free throws by Kari Tajchman increased the lead to five points with 23.4 seconds left in regulation.

After Kratzer nailed a 3-pointer to pull Lyons to within two points, they forced a Marion turnover with 12.8 seconds left. Lewis then made a basket at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

After Kratzer and Maddox traded field goals to start the extra period, Lewis completed a three-point play. With 1:02 left, Gordon chipped in a basket and Adrienne Chamberland added a free throw to tie the score once again, this time at 73, and send it into a second overtime.

Two free throws by Kratzer gave Lyons the lead with 1:25 to play. Chamberland made one free throw after she was fouled, but Lyons countered with two free throws to move ahead by three points. A basket by Maddox cut the lead to a single point with 52 seconds left.

After a Lyons timeout, Lewis drained a 3-pointer. A foul by Maddox led to a free throw by Burgess for a five-point Lions lead. Maddox made two free throws in the final seconds, but Lyons ran out the rest of the clock to secure the three-point win.

Gordon led Marion with 29 points while Maddox was right behind with 26. Kratzer scored 30 for Lyons with Lewis adding 16 and Burgess 13.

For the game, Marion shot 52 percent from the floor while Lyons shot 40 percent.

The loss dropped Marion to 0-8 in league play and 5-11 overall while Lyons improved to 2-6 and 2-15.

Hesston-Marion responded to a 38-19 halftime deficit to stage a furious comeback against Hesston, but the Swathers prevailed, 61-48 on Tuesday.

After Hesston extended its lead to 48-27 in the third quarter, the Warriors finished with a 14-2 run to cut the margin to 51-43 by the quarter’s end.

Marion managed only five points in the final period as Hesston nailed down the win.

All of Marion’s points came from three sources: Allie Maddox and Toni Gordon each scored 18 and Erin Carr added 12.

Coming-Marion was scheduled to play at Halstead on Tuesday and then will play host to Haven on Senior Night this Friday.

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