Warriors pick up road victory at Hillsboro
Sports reporter
For the third straight game the Marion High School girls' basketball team scored less than five points in a quarter.
It's also the second straight game the Warriors still found a way to win.
Baskets by seniors Lauren Helmer and Kimber Hardey were all MHS mustered in the first quarter Friday against the Trojans from Hillsboro, but a 24-point second quarter helped turned the game around.
MHS eventually held on for a 56-48 victory against the home Trojans, their first victory against its cross-county rivals since joining the MCAA in 2004.
"It was awesome," Helmer said. "It was so much fun."
Kayley Heerey scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the talented sophomore trio of Heerey, Julia Zeiner, and Lindsay Hett totaled 48 of the team's 56 points.
MHS head coach Randy Savage was glad to come away with the victory in front of a hostile crowd.
"It's good competition," he said. "I love playing Hillsboro."
The Warriors (3-1 MCAA, 6-7 overall) didn't take their first lead until Heerey hit one of her 10 free throws for a 24-23 lead just before halftime.
They would never trail again.
Heerey added two more free throws, and Zeiner scored on a coast-to-coast layup to help MHS grab a 28-25 halftime lead.
Helmer and Zeiner helped the Warriors grow their lead to eight by the end of the third quarter with back-to-back baskets, silencing the raucous HHS student section.
In the fourth quarter Marion tried to slow the game down, but Hillsboro went underneath to their post players Amy Neufeld and Dakota Kaufman.
The duo, who combined for 33 points and 10 rebounds, scored 11 of their team's first 13 points of the final quarter.
A Hillsboro basket cut the lead to 48-46, but two free throws by Hett and a basket by Heerey sealed the victory.
Savage said while his team has a little ways to go, maturity is starting to show.
"We exercised some patience on offense," he said. "They also did a much better job of talking about what kind of defense they should be in."
Holding on to leads late in the game was tough early on for the team that starts two seniors and three sophomores, but since winter break it's obvious the players are starting to gel.
"We're still not boxing out all the time, but we're light years from where we started," Savage said.
And while the team is not perfect, little things like boxing out, taking good shots, and making smart decisions are becoming more common for the Warriors.
Savage said it has taken a while for the girls to adjust to his style of coaching.
Former coach Daryl Enos, whom Savage assisted, ran a more fast-paced offense which gave shooters the green light nearly every possession.
Savage, who said he would love to coach that style "but doesn't have the experience to," runs a more slow paced offense with more passing mixed in.
"They've had to learn another way of playing," he said of his team, "and the frustration level is not as high as it was early this year."
Hardey agree with her coach.
"It was a fun game to play," she said. "As long as we play hard, and together, we are happy at the end of the day."
The Warriors will try to continue their hot streak Friday at Lyons.
MHS defeated the Lions Jan. 25, 53-31. That game did not count toward league standings, but Friday's game will.
