Warriors fall short despite comback
Sports reporter
When Allie Maddox stepped to the free throw line Friday night with 7.3 seconds left she had a chance to be a hero.
The Marion Warriors girls' basketball team trailed by one, and the junior needed to hit both free throws to give the Warriors the lead.
Instead she missed both attempts, and Hoisington ran out the clock after snagging the rebound.
"I was thinking I better make these shots," Maddox said. "Or I'm going to be pretty disappointed in myself."
As disappointing as it was for the junior, the Warriors wouldn't have been in position to win if not for Maddox.
She scored a team-high 12 points, including a three-pointer that tied the game at 44 with just 1:45 on the clock.
Just five minutes before, the Warriors trailed 40-32 and it looked as if the Cardinals were going to pull away in front of their home crowd.
When Maddox connected on her third three the Marion bench and crowd erupted.
"I didn't think it was going to go in. I just kind of threw it up there," Maddox said. "I was pretty happy with the comeback."
So was head coach Daryl Enos, who was upbeat despite the close loss.
"I was pretty happy with the fact we showed some heart tonight," he said. "We could have folded pretty easily, but we didn't."
Hoisington led by one point after the first quarter, and jumped on the Warriors early in the second.
The Cardinals scored the first five points to take a 19-11 lead.
Trailing by seven with one minutes until the half, senior guard Sarah Williams hit one free throw to cut the lead to six.
Senior Jill Hannaford then stole the ball and converted the steal to a basket, trimming the lead to four.
After another Warrior steal Leann Thomas had a shot at the buzzer to cut the lead in half. The senior's shot bounced off the rim, and Hoisington led 25-21 at the break.
The teams played evenly in the third frame, as junior center Toni Gordon added four points, and senior Katie Zogelman hit a three-pointer.
The Cardinals led by three points heading into the fourth, before jumping to the eight-point lead.
Maddox then did her best to bring Marion back, but the Cardinals finished on top, 46-45.
With limited practice and no games the past three weeks, Enos couldn't help but see an upside.
"I'm pretty disappointed with the loss, but I'm pretty encouraged with what I saw," Enos said. "I still think we are a team to reckon with."
As for Maddox, Enos knows she will shake it off and continue to play well.
"You can't dwell on that stuff," he said. "You start doing that and you start second guessing yourself on everything else."
Gordon finished the night with 10 points and three rebounds. Junior guard Megan Hudson scored six points, grabbed four rebounds, and snared a team-high seven steals.
The Warriors fell to 0-1 in the Mid-Central Activities Association and 4-3 overall. They hosted Collegiate Tuesday, and will travel Friday to Ellinwood.
JV falls to Cardinals
Marion Warrior junior varsity lost to Hoisington 56-27. Junior Emalee Versch led Marion with eight points, and sophomore Kari Tajchman added seven.
