Foul trouble nearly knocked the Marion High School girls basketball team flat in the final minutes of Friday's 51-47 win at Halstead, but Kayley Heerey and Lindsay Hett held off the Dragons' late charge. Halstead defeated the boys by a 73-54 margin.
Bridget Lundy, Kristen Steinborn and Julia Zeiner fouled out early in the fourth quarter, and Halstead whittled Marion's 41-33 lead down to 49-44 with 1:35 to go.
Then came the single strangest play of the night: Whitney Gordon beat Alexi Bohling to the spot defensively, setting her feet to take a charge. But Gordon wavered slightly just as Bohling crashed into her under the basket, causing a disagreement between officials that was ruled a double foul?each player's fifth personal. Halstead retained possession by virtue of the alternating arrow, and the ensuing inbounds play resulted in a Marissa Vermillion 3-pointer with 1:18 left.
Hett and Heerey combined on a bad pass turnover a moment later, but the Warrior defense forced a miss. Heerey gathered the rebound and moved the ball to Hett, who was fouled by Kirsten Sooter with with 34 seconds left. Hett made the second of the foul shots, forcing Halstead to shoot for three.
The defense forced another miss and Heerey grabbed another rebound, but committed another turnover, giving Halstead one last chance to shoot for the tie. The Dragons misfired again, and Hett's defensive rebound clinched it. She was fouled with two seconds left, and made one free throw to take luck out of the final equation.
Hett totaled 20 points and Zeiner totaled 15.
The Marion boys were less fortunate, as Halstead shot 62 percent from the field?a stat padded by numerous layups, but also inclusive of a 7-for-15 3-point shooting night.
The Warriors trailed 9-0 out of the gate, but closed the first quarter with a 12-7 run to trail 18-13 entering the second quarter. Both teams repeated their output, leaving the Warriors in a 36-26 hole at halftime.
A 19-11 third quarter put the game effectively out of reach with eight minutes remaining.
Elliot Hett scored 17 points and Eric Vogel notched 12?11 of which came before halftime.
