Marion girls runners-up to Centre at Cougar Classic

Marion?s Katey Ehrlich eyes the basket as Centre?s Cacey Simons defends during the third quarter of Centre?s championship victory Saturday. Both players were named to the all-tournament team.The third-seeded Marion girls kept pace with Centre at the start of Saturday?s Cougar Classic championship game, but in the end, the Cougars lived up to their No. 1 seed by earning the victory, 50-36.

?We?re disappointed in the outcome, obviously,? Marion coach Kelly Robson said. ?We knew Centre was a good team. They?re going to shoot it well.

?We did accomplish one thing that I thought might be trouble for us. We got them out of their full-court pressure. They found out early on that that wasn?t going to work like it has worked against other teams.?

Makenzie Deines opened scoring with a basket 11 seconds in, and Kelli Hess answered with a tying basket just 10 seconds later.

The teams battled back and forth until the Cougars gained some distance when Shelby Makovec followed a Cacey Simons basket with two free throws for a 12-7 Centre lead. Bailey Robson scored to close the gap to 12-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Katey Ehrlich tied the game with a three-pointer, but Centre surged 8-0 to lead 20-12 after Simons hit a three.

Marion cut the lead to 20-16 when Julia Hall made a basket, but after a Shelby Makovec basket and a free throw from Simons, Centre took a 23-16 lead into intermission.

The Cougars used back-to-back three pointers from Shelby Makovec and Amy Makovec to build a double-digit, 29-17, advantage.

Megan Richmond answered with a three that brought Marion within 29-20 at the 5:37 mark. Centre extended its lead back to double-figures just over a minute later and maintained it the duration of the third quarter to lead, 36-22, going into the final break.

Centre held its largest lead of the night, 42-23, when Simons scored with 6:26 left in the game, but Robson followed two Ehrlich free throws with a basket for a 42-27 score.

The Warriors began to turn up their defensive intensity and outscored Centre, 6-3, over the next three minutes, courtesy of three consecutive baskets by Robson to narrow the gap to 45-33 with 2:35 to play.

Although Marion continued to battle, Centre?s play was too much to overcome. The Cougars made five of eight free throws in the final 2:13 to seal the 14-point win.

Centre?s Shelby Makovec led with a game-high 18 points. Simons added 13.

Robson led Marion with 10.

Ehrlich, Shelby Makovec and Simons were named to the all-tournament team.

Marion 36, Rural Vista 28

Semifinal round, Friday

Despite a slow start out of the gate, Marion battled back into contention with a strong defensive effort that limited No. 2 Rural Vista to eight points in the second half.

Rural Vista burst to a 10-0 lead before Julia Hall scored Marion?s first points nearly five minutes into the opening quarter. After Kirsten Hansen scored off a steal, the first quarter ended with the Heat in front, 12-4.

?I?m starting to think that?s one of the stories of our season is we just don?t seem to start very well,? coach Kelly Robson said. ?I don?t know why we start so rough. We don?t match the intensity of the other team at the start of the game.?

Things began to turn around in the second quarter.

Katey Ehrlich scored to bring Marion within 12-6, but the Heat rallied with five unanswered points before Ehrlich made a basket at 2:55.

That was the start of a 9-0 Warrior run fueled by a strong defensive effort. Bailey Robson nailed a three-pointer, followed by a Kaelyn Thierolf basket and a Robson basket off a turnover. Suddenly, Marion was within 17-15.

The half ended with Rural Vista clinging to a 20-17 lead.

?I thought Bailey just wore herself out from endline to endline chasing those girls,? Robson said. ?She got a nice steal and a layup in there, but she also had some other pressures that caused some things, and I think the other girls just saw her going like crazy and it really picked it up for everybody.

?Amazingly enough, when the defense gets you excited, some of your shots start to go in, too.?

Megan Richmond scored first out of the break to bring Marion within 20-19, but Rural Vista answered. Kelli Hess narrowed the gap to 22-21. The Heat responded with their last basket of the quarter at 4:05.

Marion scored eight unanswered points to take the lead, 29-24, going into the final break.

?I think already in the second quarter, we started to see that we could run the floor a little bit better than they could,? Robson said. ?Maybe conditioning was a bit of an issue. I really thought that played out in the second half.?

Rural Vista broke its scoring drought with a basket less than one minute into the final period to narrow Marion?s lead to 29-26.

Kirsten Hansen scored at 5:31, and Hess and Hansen tossed in a free throw apiece to extend the lead to 33-26 with 1:24 to go.

Rural Vista scored its final basket with 1:02 to go, and three free throws from Ehrlich sealed the eight-point Marion victory.

?We did control the inside a little bit,? Robson said. ?I was surprised they didn?t try to jam it in there a little bit more aggressively than they did, but our girls were just doing a good job of keeping in their places.?

Ehrlich led the Warriors with 11 points.

Marion 47, Wakefield 32

First round, Tuesday

Wakefield hung with Marion for the first quarter, but after that, the Warriors pulled away to defeat the sixth-seeded Bombers.

Marion played without starter Kirsten Hansen due to illness.

?It was important for Katey to handle the basketball more and Megan and Kelli and Bailey to be willing to handle the basketball more than usual,??coach Kelly Robson said. ?We turned it over more than we?d like, but I was happy with them being willing to step in there.?

Robson said he was pleased with the way the Warriors ran the floor.

?We really got out and found an open pass across court and made most of our layups,??he said. ?We?re still missing some layups, but I was really pleased with the way we were running our fast-break.?

The Bombers scored the first points of the game, and the teams exchanged baskets until Julia Hall scored a second-chance basket off a Warrior steal to give Marion its first lead, 8-6.

The Bombers added six unanswered points to stake a 12-8 lead, and the first quarter ended with Marion trailing 12-10 after Katey Ehrlich scored with 35 seconds left.

The Warriors took control in the second quarter, gaining the lead for good when Bailey Robson cashed in a three-point play.

Kelli Hess and Ehrlich followed with consecutive scores to push the Warrior lead to 17-12, and the Warriors never looked back.

Hess scored back-to-back baskets, and suddenly, Marion held a double-digit, 24-14, advantage. The Warriors increased their lead to 31-18 at halftime.

Wakefield pulled within 31-22, but Marion regained a double-digit lead and maintained it the duration of the game. The third quarter ended with Marion leading, 37-25.

The Warriors surged 6-0 out of the final break to lead 43-25 after a basket by Hess.

The Bombers scored six unanswered points after that, but after baskets by Ehrlich and Robson, the Warriors led, 47-31, with 2:32 to go. The Bombers wrapped up scoring with one final free throw.

Hess led with 15 points. Ehrlich added 14. Hall grabbed 11 rebounds.

Coming?Marion (6-6) will host Council Grove for homecoming Thursday.

?Council Grove will be rough, and then we?ve got Remington right after that, which is going to be rough, too,? Robson said. ?But then after that I think we?ll be competitive in some more games.

?The girls are seeing that they can be competitive. It?s not just a ?go through the motions? kind of season.?

Written By
More from Janae Rempel
Bluejays win 11th-straight match
The Tabor College volleyball team won its 11th-straight match Friday by defeating...
Read More