The Marion girls? basketball team rallied with a 13-point scoring run in the final three minutes of the game, but it wasn?t quite enough to salvage a victory in its season opener.
Hutch Trinity prevailed in the contest, 45-43, on the Warriors? home court.
?They were down 15 points in the last three minutes, and they didn?t quit,? said coach Randy Savage.
?We?re not proficient at what we?re trying to do, so we?re going to spend before Christmas trying to make sure we always play hard…probably the first thing we?ll work on is handling pressure.?
Marion stayed within a few points of Trinity through the first quarter and into the beginning of the second. But the Celtics began to pull away before the break, despite a three-pointer from Kaelyn Thierolf with 1:30 remaining.
The Celtics claimed a 25-16 lead by halftime.
The third quarter was much more of the same. The Warriors managed a few points, but still got outscored. Trinity extended the lead to 38-26 by the end of the quarter.
But the Warriors weren?t done yet, despite being down by 15 points with three minutes left to play.
Senior Whitney Gordon made a free throw to spark a 13-point scoring burst that included two three-point baskets by Megan Richmond, one with 54 seconds remaining and one to cap the comeback as the buzzer sounded.
The Warriors? Kelly Hess led the offense with 12 points, and Richmond added 10. Katey Ehrlich scored eight points and Gordon chipped in seven.
But Marion made just six of their 16 free throw attempts, which Savage said was a big contributing factor in their defeat.
The Warriors also struggled to hang onto the ball.
?Turnovers are never good, and we had plenty of them,? Savage said.
But, on the upside, he said their man-to-man defense was pretty good.
?I?m not unhappy,? Savage said. ?It was OK. It?s hard to get them to play fast, but let the game be slow in their head. Go full speed, but still take time to go through the profession.?
Coming ?The Warriors are scheduled to play Berean Academy Thursday to kick off their Warrior Classic tournament, before playing Eureka Friday. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. both days. Finals are scheduled for Saturday.
?Berean will be a step up, though Trinity looked pretty good,? said coach Randy Savage. We have some tough games before Christmas.?
