The Marion basketball teams split their first games of the Cougar Classic at Centre Tuesday night. The girls defeated Wakefield, 48-26, and the boys lost to Solomon, 45-38.
Girls?The fourth-seeded Warriors took control early en-route to a 22-point first-round win over the No. 5 Bombers.
Erika Hess scored the game?s first basket 30 seconds in, and neither team scored again until Wakefield scored off a Marion turnover, tying the game at the 4:18 mark. From there, the Warriors ended the quarter with an 11-0 run. Kourtney Hansen contributed Marion?s final seven points of the quarter, giving the Warriors a 13-2 lead by the first break.
In an evenly-played second quarter, Wakefield scored the first six points, then Marion ended with an 8-2 burst to enjoy a 21-10 margin at intermission. Hansen scored 11 points in the first half. Hess added eight.
The Warriors built their lead to 29-10 after the break before Wakefield scored two points from the charity stripe with 2:35 left in the third quarter. Marion outscored the Bombers 6-2 in the final 2:12 for a 35-14 lead heading into the final quarter.
Marion led by as many 27 points in the fourth quarter en-route to the 22-point victory.
Hansen led Marion with 15 points and nine rebounds. 
Boys?As the sixth seed in the tournament, the Warriors lost a hard-fought battle to No. 3 Solomon by seven.
Neither team shot the ball well in the first quarter. Unofficially, Marion made two of 12 attempts from the field (16.7 percent) in the period, while Solomon made just one of 10 (10 percent).
Solomon put the first two points on the board from the charity stripe with 3:38 left in the first quarter, then Peyton Heidebrecht tied the game with a pair of free throws. Jacob Baldwin and Mason Pedersen scored baskets to give Marion the lead, and Solomon made its first basket of the quarter with just 14 seconds to go, bringing the score to 6-4 in favor of Marion at the end of one.
Following an 8-8 tie, Bret Voth and Baldwin combined for a string of seven points, and the teams traded scores the rest of the half, giving Marion a 19-12 lead at halftime.
Marion?s largest lead was 24-16 after Heidebrecht made a three, but Solomon came roaring back with a 9-2 burst to trim Marion?s lead to one. The Warriors maintained the lead, and held a 29-26 advantage heading into the final period.
The Gorillas scored first to close the gap to one, then took the lead with two technical foul shots from the charity stripe with 6:18 to play. With Marion managing only one free throw and one basket in the first five minutes of the period, Solomon built its lead to 39-32 with 2:41 to play. The Warriors closed to 41-38 with 1:16 left, but Solomon scored the game?s final four points.
Coming?Both teams will again be in action Friday.?The boys will face Elyria Christian at 5:30 p.m., and the girls will play Centre at 7 p.m.
For scores and updates during games, follow Janae on Twitter @janaerem13
