Marion girls fall to Trojans, 48-25

Kirsten Hansen draws a foul during the third quarter at Southeast of Saline Friday. She made one of two shots from the charity stripe and scored three points in Marion?s 48-25 loss. Janae Rempel / Free PressThe Marion girls? basketball team opened the 2014-15 season with a 48-25 loss at Southeast of Saline Friday.

The Warriors started the game strong. Erika Hess opened scoring with a basket just 20 seconds in, and when Julia Hall fired off back-to-back baskets 9 seconds apart, Marion led 6-2. Bailey Robson drained two three-pointers in a 27-second span, and the first quarter ended with the Warriors in front, 15-10.

But Marion cooled from there, settling for outside shots instead of driving inside.

Leading 17-12 after Kourtney Hansen scored, Marion stalled. Turnovers and missed scoring opportunities contributed to a 10-0 Trojan run to end the second quarter, giving Southeast of Saline a 22-17 halftime advantage.

?We got a few shots to go in the first quarter, and then we started thinking we can make everything from out there, and we didn?t even try to get it inside anymore,? coach Kelly Robson said. ?Then we started to miss a few, but we still didn?t try to get it inside, and we still missed. So we didn?t get to the free-throw line because we weren?t attacking the goal inside.?

The third quarter saw more of the same. Kirsten Hansen hit a free throw to open the third quarter, but from there, the Trojans scored nine unanswered points for a 31-18 margin by the end of the third period.

With 6:13 left to play, Kirsten Hansen scored Marion?s first field goal since the second quarter. Although Warrior scoring increased in the final period, Southeast of Saline outscored Marion 17-7 and held a double-digit advantage the rest of the way.

?Defensively, we were better in the zone,? Robson said. ?We couldn?t handle Erica Montgomery pretty clearly in man-to-man.?

The Trojans? leading scorer, Montgomery scored nine of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter to add to her 12 rebounds.

?I just thought we were too passive,? Robson said. ?I think we?re an OK shooting team, and I?ve told them that, but I think we settled too much tonight.

?But we did get off to a really good start. I was really pleased with that.?

Marion shot 22.7 percent from the field (10-44).

Bailey Robson led the Warriors with eight points.

SES, meanwhile, shot 46.2 percent (18-39).

Coming?Marion (0-1)?was scheduled to open the Marion Classic Tuesday against Peabody-Burns. The Warriors will face Berean Academy Friday at 4 p.m.

The tournament will conclude Saturday. Girls? action is scheduled to begin at noon and will culminate in the championship at 6 p.m.

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