Marion girls beat Council Grove; boys fall to Braves

Girls?

The Warriors defeated Council Grove on the road tonight, 33-31, at the Braves? homecoming game.

The Warriors struggled in the first half of the ball game, scoring a mere five points in the first quarter and only three in the second quarter. Fortunately for the Warriors, it was a rather sluggish first half for the Braves as well, who scored 17 points to give them the lead going into the locker room, 17-8.

It did not look good for the Warriors at halftime, but they came out much stronger in the third quarter. They increased the defensive tempo of the game and beginning hitting shots on the offensive side, in part thanks to Warriors? mainstay Whitney Gordon, who sat out a good portion of the first half.

The Warriors steadily cut down the Braves? lead, finally tying the game, 24-24, with 27 seconds left in the third quarter. Both teams traded the lead several times in the next few minutes, with the Warriors starting to pull ahead by four points with just under three minutes left in the game.

Morgan Chadd tied the game for the Braves, 31-31, with 1:25 left in the game, before Gordon and teammate Katey Ehrilich made key free throws to give the Warriors back the lead and make the final score for the game 33-31.

Warriors coach Randy Savage said increasing the game speed made the difference for his players against a ?more aggressive? Braves? team and helped them come on strong for the win in the second half.

Despite little playing time in the first half, Gordon was the only Bluejays player in the double digits with 14 points for the night. The Braves? scoring was pretty evenly distributed amongst the players and none reached the double digits.

?

Boys?

The Warriors received a disappointing loss on the road tonight at the hands of Council Grove, 42-24.

They started out very strong in the first quarter, looking much like the team that won the Centre Tourney over Hope last Saturday. The Warriors scored 16 points in the first quarter, with sophomore stand-out Jordan Hett contributing eight points in the quarter.

The Warriors started to stall a bit in the second quarter, only making five points. However, they still led by 10 points going into the locker room, 21-11.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the second half might as well have been a different game. The Braves came on very strong, scoring 11 points in the third quarter and holding the Warriors to only three points. They cut the Warriors? lead down to one point by halftime, with the Warriors ahead 24-23.

The game began to slip away from the Warriors in the fourth quarter. The Braves improved their scoring, boasting 19 points in the fourth quarter, and kept the Warriors scoreless the entire fourth quarter.

The Braves went on a stunning 24-point scoring run in the second half, which stretched from just over four minutes left in the third quarter until the buzzer at the end of the game. At the beginning of the run the Braves were behind, 24-18, and by the end they led by 18 points, making the final score for the game 42-24.

Marion coach Jeff McMillan declined to comment on the game.

The Warriors did not have any players in the double digits. The Braves? Brock Frye hit double digits with 11 points, and Tyler Sisson led for the Braves with 15 points on the night.

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