The Marion Warriors split their games against Hutchinson Trinity Tuesday night, with the girls dropping a 44-25 contest and the boys picking up a 54-38 win.
GIRLS ? Once again, the Marion girls stumbled out of the gate, and despite a third-quarter rally, could not overcome a 19-point deficit when time expired.
The teams traded scores to open the game, but Marion?s final lead of the night came halfway through the opening quarter, 5-4, when Kaelyn Thierolf scored on a second chance basket. It was the Warriors? final points of the quarter, however, and the Celtics used a 10-0 run to build a 14-5 lead by the end of the first period. The Warriors continued to struggle with turnovers and did not add points to the board until 4:48 remained in the second period when Katey Ehrlich scored. Ehrlich added two free-throws 30 seconds later, but the Celtics burst to a 23-11 lead at the break.
The Warriors narrowed the gap in the third quarter, with Erin Meierhoff scoring six of Marion?s 11 third-quarter points. The Celtics scored their final basket of the third period less than three minutes in, and Marion surged 9-0 to narrow the gap to 29-22 going into the final period. But Trinity regained a double-digit, 33-22, lead at 6:34, a lead the Celtics maintained to the end. Meierhoff scored the Warriors? final basket with 2:48 left in the game, and the Celtics ended with five unanswered points to claim the 19-point victory.
Meierhoff led the Warriors with 10 points.
BOYS ? Just looking at the final score, one might think Tuesday?s game against Hutchinson Trinity was never close, but the Marion boys trailed at halftime, and after going down six to open the second half, scored more points in the third quarter than the first half combined and ran away with the 54-38 victory.
It took time for the Warriors to get rolling, however, and Marion held a narrow, 10-9, lead after the first quarter. But the Celtics used a 6-0 run to claim a 15-10 lead with 3:52 left before halftime, and the Warriors played from behind the rest of the quarter and went into the locker room down by four, 20-16.
But the Warriors got back to their style of basketball in the third quarter and surged to claim a 26-24 lead at 3:06 after Jordan Hett scored six straight points for the Warriors. Jacob Harper followed 17 seconds later with a basket off a steal. The Celtics drew within one, 28-27, at the 2:16 mark, but it was all Marion the rest of the quarter as the home team used a 13-0 run to build a 41-27 lead by the end of the quarter. Harper scored Marion?s final six points of the quarter, cashing in a traditional three-point play off a steal then polishing the quarter off with a three-point basket at the buzzer. Marion surged to its largest lead of the night, 52-31, with 4:15 left to play, courtesy of another three-point basket by Harper, and the Warriors cruised to the 16-point victory.
Harper led the Warriors with 24 points. Hett added 21.
