The Marion girls picked up two wins last week to improve to 5-3 in Heart of America league play, 14-5 overall.
Elyria Christian—Marion rolled to a 67-30 victory over the visiting Eagles Friday.
The game’s high scorer, Kourtney Hansen, scored nine of Marion’s first 11 points, including the first seven points of the game. Marion built a 13-2 lead before the Eagles ended the quarter on a 7-3 run to close the gap to 16-9 at the first break.
When Elyria missed its first four shots of the second quarter, Marion went on an 8-0 run. Hansen and Sam Richmond each contributed three points to the effort. With 5:25 left in the half, Marion had extended its lead to 24-9.
The Warriors continued to build their lead, ending the half on a 12-4 run. Taelyn Pagel and Corin Parmley drained three-pointers, and by halftime, Marion led, 40-18. Marion made 13 of 19 attempts from the field in the first half (68 percent).
The Eagles made just two baskets and three free-throws in the third quarter, while Marion scored 15 points, propelled by Hansen’s six, giving the Warriors a 55-25 lead at the final break.
With a running clock in place to start the fourth quarter, Marion built to its largest lead, 67-28 when Sam Kelsey scored with 1:45 to go. The Eagles made the game’s final basket, bringing it to the final 37-point spread.
“I know we can shoot it, but there’s just been too many games where we haven’t made them, but tonight they were going in,” coach Kelly Robson said. “Once you see one go in, that just makes you more anxious to shoot that next one and see it go in, too.”
Hansen led all scorers with 22 points. Marissa Jacobson scored 10.
Inman—Marion did just enough down the stretch to earn a 34-31 victory over the Teutons Tuesday.
In a low-scoring first quarter in which each team made three baskets, Kourtney Hansen accounted for all six of Marion’s points. Inman’s three-point basket with 57 seconds left in the period gave the Teutons the edge at the first break, 7-6.
Inman extended its lead, 11-6, before Courtney Herzet drained a three-pointer, and Hansen, a two-pointer, to tie the game. Both teams were 2-for-8 from the field in the quarter, each including one basket from beyond the arc. Marion, however, made three free-throws compared to Inman’s two to tie the game by halftime at 14 all.
The Teutons built a 21-18 lead, then Marion enjoyed a 5-0 run to jump in front, 23-21, when Alli Molleker scored at the 1:54 mark. Inman missed seven attempts in a row in a 5:12 span, breaking the drought with a three-pointer with 21 seconds to go. Hansen scored to put Marion in front at the final break, 25-24.
The teams traded baskets to start the fourth quarter before back-to-back baskets by Sam Richmond and Jessi Lewman extended the Warriors’ margin to five, 33-28.
A Teuton trey brought Inman within 33-31 with 1:03 to play, and Inman began fouling to send the Warriors to the charity stripe. In the final 56 seconds, the Warriors missed three of four free-throws attempted, including two front ends of one-and-one opportunities.
Inman, however missed all three of its shots, including a potential game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer, and Marion held on to win.
“I certainly wouldn’t have guessed this game was going to go that way,” coach Kelly Robson said. “But they were playing a defense that’s going to make it hard for us when our outside shots aren’t going in, and tonight, we couldn’t quite get those outside ones to go in quite often enough.”
Hansen led all scorers with 17 points. She had 14 rebounds. Marion made just five of 15 free-throws attempted.
Coming—Marion was scheduled to conclude the regular season at Berean Academy Tuesday. Sub-state seeding will take place today. See hillsborofreepress.com for information.
