The Marion girls? undefeated mark in the MCAA ended at the hands of state-ranked Wichita Collegiate. The Warriors fell to the Spartans 71-45 Tuesday in Wichita.
Marion hung with Collegiate for the first 15 minutes of play and trailed only 35-30 at halftime.
The Warriors scored the first basket of the game on a Julia Zeiner layup. Collegiate answered with seven consecutive points, then Marion retook the lead with an 8-0 run, capped by a Whitney Gordon putback with 4:30 left in the first quarter. The Warriors led 17-13 late in the quarter, but watched their lead slip away in the last minute and the quarter ended with Collegiate holding a 21-18 lead.
Marion took the lead again in the second quarter and extended it to 28-23 on a Kayley Heerey 3-pointer with just over four minutes left in the half. Collegiate took lead for good at 31-30 with 40 seconds left in the half, and took a 35-30 into the locker room by scoring the last eight points of the half.
Starting the third quarter with a 12-3 run, Collegiate took control and eventually put the game out reach.
Led by Ashia Woods with 18 points and 12 rebounds, the Spartans finished with four players in double figures. Kamri Phox scored 16, Kati Broberg 15, and Sadie Clark 14.
Marion was led by Zeiner with 15 points and five rebounds. Gordon pulled down 10 rebounds and scored four points. Lindsey Hett finished with nine points and seven rebounds. Heerey added nine points and five steals.
With the win, Collegiate is in sole possession of first in the MCAA at 5-0 (11-1 overall) while Hillsboro is second at 4-0. Marion falls into a third-place tie 4-1 and is 10-3 overall.
In the boys? game, Collegiate took control from the opening tip, downing Marion 81-36.
Marion was unable to handle the Collegiate press, turning the ball over 27 times. Putting up only 29 shots in the game, Marion shot 37 percent from the field and was 1-for-8 from behind the arc.
Bryce Cornejo paced the Spartans with 22 points on 8-for-9 shooting. Blake Jablonski scored 12 and Doug Burton finished with 10.
Isaac Hett was the only Warrior in double digits, finishing with 12 points. Jordan Versch added nine and Eric Vogel had seven points and eight rebounds.
Collegiate improved to 5-0 in MCAA play and 12-1 overall while Marion fell to 2-3 in the MCAA and 5-8 overall.
Marion will play host to Halstead on Friday.
