Staff writer
The Marion High School girls basketball team defeated Hesston Saturday, 61-56, to take third place in the Hillsboro Trojan Classic.
The Warriors trailed by as many as nine points in the third quarter, but they locked up their defense — allowing Hesston to only score six points in the fourth quarter.
“We started getting out in the passing lanes and pressuring the ball a little more,” Marion head coach Randy Savage said.
Julia Zeiner kept the Warriors in the game with her consistent scoring. She finished the game as the Warriors leading scorer with 28 points.
Lindsay Hett provided an outside presence to Zeiner’s low post threat by scoring 21 points.
Hett also made the defensive play that saved the game for the Warriors.
Marion had the lead, 55-52, and the ball late in the fourth quarter. Bridget Lundy lost control of the ball and she made a frantic play to save the ball from going out of bounds. Lundy hurled the ball behind her back into the hands of Hesston’s Mallory Schroeder.
Schroeder believed that she had received an invitation to an easy layup, and she deliberately strode to the basket.
Out of seemingly nowhere, Hett raced down the court and blocked Schroeder’s shot, reaching over the Swather with her right arm to swat the ball out of bounds.
After the block, Hett, Zeiner, and Kayley Heerey all hit free throws to give the Warriors their final lead, 61-55.
Thursday
The Warriors basketball team lost Thursday in overtime to Thomas More Prep, 61-55.
But, the Warriors took an exciting route to extend the game beyond regulation. The Monarchs were up 49-42 late in the fourth quarter and seemed to be in control of the game. The Marion man-to-man defense suddenly became an iron maiden. Lindsay Hett turned one steal into a Julia Zeiner layup. The Warriors turned two more stops into two more layups by Zeiner and Kayley Heerey.
TMP’s Kaylee Hoffman scored on the next possession to give the Monarchs a 51-48 lead with 1 minute, 28 seconds left in the game.
The Warriors missed a shot on the following Marion possession and then quickly had to foul. Jessa Stramel went to the line but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
With 24.6 seconds left, Warrior head coach Randy Savage called a timeout with time to draw up one more play.
The tallest player on the floor — Marion’s Whitney Gordon — lined up for a corner three, and, with a hand in her face, drilled the shot to tie the game.
After a TMP timeout, Lindsay Hett stole the ball on the inbounds play but was unable to convert the play into points and the game went into overtime.
“She thought the shot was ugly,” Savage said. “I told her that she can shoot like that all the time.”
The Warriors were unable to hold off TMP in overtime, even though Hoffman — who had filled up the stat sheet with 16 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and five blocks — fouled out of the game.
“In my opinion, that’s the best team in the state,” Savage said of TMP.
Zeiner was the high scorer for Marion with 17 points despite a stout interior defense for TMP that swatted nine shots. Heerey scored 14 mainly on her 4-for-9 3-point shooting.
Marion Girls’ Box Scores
Name FG FT PTS PF R S A
Harper 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Guetersloh 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
*Lundy 0/3 0/0 0 3 6 3 3
E. Hett 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Cady 1/1 0/0 2 0 0 0 0
*Zeiner 6/13 4/7 17 3 4 1 4
*L. Hett 3/12 1/4 9 5 4 7 4
Edwards 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Gordon 5/12 1/4 12 1 8 0 0
*Heerey 5/13 0/2 14 2 4 1 3
*Steinborn 0/0 1/2 1 2 0 0 0
Meierhoff 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Carlson 0/0 0/0 0 1 0 0 0
Marion 55
TMP 61(OT)
Marion Girls’ Box Scores
Name FG FT PTS PF R S A
Harper 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Guetersloh 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
*Lundy 1/3 0/0 3 5 1 2 1
E. Hett 0/0 0/0 0 0 1 0 0
Cady 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
*Zeiner 11/21 6/11 28 4 7 1 3
*L. Hett 8/13 3/4 21 2 4 5 4
Edwards 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Gordon 2/6 1/4 5 5 9 0 1
*Heerey 0/6 2/2 2 2 3 3 6
*Steinborn 1/3 0/0 2 2 2 3 2
Meierhoff 0/0 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
Carlson 0/1 0/0 0 1 0 0 0
Marion 61
Hesston 56