The Marion basketball teams dropped their season openers at home Friday against Southeast of Saline. The girls fell, 42-28, while the boys dropped a 71-53 contest.
GIRLS?Marion got off to a slow start, and the Trojans surged to a 9-0 lead before Kelli Hess put the Warriors on the board with a three-point basket with 1:33 left in the opening quarter.
The Trojans used a 7-0 run to build a 16-3 lead. But Marion chipped away at that lead, putting up 9 points to SES?s 3 in the final 4:07 of the half, thanks to baskets by Julia Hall, Kirsten Hansen, Katey Ehrlich and Kelli Hess. Hess contributed a three-point play at the end of the half. SES led, 19-12, at intermission.
Hess opened the second half with a basket behind the arc to bring Marion within 19-15, but Warrior turnovers and missed shots contributed to a 5-0 Trojan run, and SES extended its lead to 10 points, 27-17, with 2:26 left in the third quarter.
Marion drew within three, 30-27, after a three-point play by Ehrlich and a Hess basket, but SES answered with a 5-0 run, and then outscored Marion 7-1 in the final 2:53 to win by 14, 42-28.
Hess led Marion with 11 points.
BOYS?The Marion boys faced a Trojan team ranked 10th in Class 3A in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association preseason rankings and fell, 71-53.
SES came out firing on all cylinders, sinking five three-point baskets in the first quarter en-route to a 23-11 lead by the end of the opening period.
With missed opportunities at the charity stripe to start the second quarter, Marion faced a 26-11 deficit after yet another three-point Trojan basket, and SES surged to its largest lead of the half, 38-17, with 1:29 left before intermission.
Taylor Heidebrecht answered with a three-point basket with 11 seconds left, but SES enjoyed a 42-23 halftime lead.
The Trojans enjoyed their largest lead of the night, 45-23, after sinking a three-point basket 18 seconds into the second half, but Heidebrecht answered with a three-pointer of his own. Marion cut the SES lead to 12, 61-49, when Tim Knolla made a three-pointer and Jacob Baldwin followed with a basket with 4:11 left in the game, but SES extended its lead and went on to win by 18, 71-53.
Heidebrecht led the Warrior attack with 16 points followed by Knolla with 12.
COMING?The Warriors will host the Marion Classic next week. Marion is scheduled to play Berean Academy Thursday and Belle Plaine Friday. The tournament will conclude Saturday.
