Staff writer
The energy was high Tuesday in Hillsboro’s Brown Gymnasium as the Marion Warriors faced the Hillsboro Trojans, and the Marion girls won a rivalry game for the books, 38-36.
The Warriors held a halftime lead of 19-15, but the Trojans outscored them 13-5 in the third quarter, leading 28-24 going into the final stanza.
“Other teams that I’ve coached would say, ‘Here we go again, it’s just another Marion-Hillsboro game,’” coach Kelly Robson said. “This team decided they would battle hard.”
The score was tied at 36 when Robson called time with 30 seconds remaining.
“We were just going to run offense and let the clock wind down to 10 seconds or so, then be more intentional about getting a shot,” he said.
Kourtney Hansen got the call to drive for a shot, but the ball was knocked away near the baseline. Hillsboro’s Alex Ratzlaff tried to toss the loose ball off a Marion player, but it went right to Bailey Robson, who scored the winning basket right before the buzzer.
“They are super happy,” Robson said. “I don’t know when the last time was that the Marion girls beat Hillsboro. It means a lot to the girls.”
Bailey Robson led the scoring with 11 points, and Hansen had 7.
Marion boys didn’t fare so well, scoring just one basket in the first half of the game, as the Trojans took a 20-point lead, 27-7, at the half.
The Warriors downed 13 points in the third quarter, but fell back to hard luck shooting in the fourth, and the Trojans pulled away for a 59-24 win.
Mason Pederson led the Warriors in scoring with 10 points.
Marion will face Council Grove at 6 p.m. Friday at home.