Sports editor
On a night full of firsts, the Marion High School girls’ and boys’ basketball teams only cared about one: a victory.
Both teams earned one Monday on their home court with first-round defeats of the Peabody-Burns Warriors.
The games were the first for the MHS teams in their new gym located in the USD 408 Sports and Aquatics Center during the first Marion Classic tournament.
The girls earned a 63-26 victory against PBHS (0-2), to improve to 1-0 on the season. The boys finished in a different fashion, hanging on for a 46-43 victory against the 1-1 Warriors.
Lady Warriors
The first Marion Warrior game in the new gym belonged to the Lady Warriors. Nine players scored in the game, led by Julia Zeiner’s 20 points.
The junior was efficient in all facets of the game. Along with her game-high points, she notched four steals, grabbed two rebounds, dished out two assists, and recorded a block.
She scored nine of her team’s 17 points in the first quarter, as the Lady Warriors led by 14.
PBHS crept back into the game in the second period, out-scoring Marion 12-9.
Head coach Randy Savage said after the game he told his team at halftime they needed to put away the Warriors with a strong third quarter. He was concerned after PBHS cut a 16-point, first-half deficit to 11 at halftime.
However, the third quarter was good to Marion.
A 22-2 rout in the third period pushed the lead to 48-17.
By the time buzzer sounded on the game, Marion walked away with a 37-point victory.
Zeiner wasn’t the only one who contributed in the team effort.
Fellow junior Kayley Heerey had 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, and classmate Lindsay Hett racked up nine points, six rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Junior Kristen Steinborn contributed three points, five rebounds, five assists, and two steals.
Savage also was pleased with his bench of Anna Laurin, Bridget Lundy, Danae Edwards, Kristen Geis, and Whitney Gordon, which accounted for 12 points and 14 rebounds.
Eight players were on the court between 12 and 24 minutes.
“The bench did a great job,” Savage said. “And hopefully we can continue to do better. It was a good start.”
Any coach will take a 1-0 record out of the gate, but Savage said there always are things that need to be improved.
“We’ve got to get better at talking (to each other),” he said.
The talked picked up in the third quarter when everyone seemed to be on the same page, just in time for the Lady Warriors to notch their first victory in their new gym.
“It was really cool but kind of nerve-wracking,” lone Lady Warrior senior Amanda Richmond said.
She scored four points in the game, including the first two from a Warrior basketball player in the new gym.
“It was pretty exciting,” Richmond said. “I kind of thought about it when it went in, but I didn’t have time to celebrate.”
The Lady Warriors had time to celebrate after the game Monday night, but it was back to practice Tuesday in preparation for their semifinal match-up Thursday against seventh-seeded Eureka.
The Tornadoes knocked off Belle Plaine in overtime Monday to advance to the second round.
The winner will play at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the championship game.
Boys
MHS head coach Jeff McMillin thought his first game as Warrior head coach was never going to end. His team led by four after the first quarter, eight at halftime, and five heading into the fourth.
Marion was up by as much as nine with four minutes to play, but PBHS refused to go away.
The clock couldn’t tick fast enough as PBHS continued to chip away at the MHS lead.
It wasn’t until a desperation three-pointer by Aaron Topham fell short at the buzzer that McMillin felt the weight slide off his shoulders.
“I wish that weight would have come off a little earlier,” he said.
It came down to the wire, and not without some tense moments for MHS fans.
PBHS player Jacob Simmonds completed a three-point play with 3:42 to cut the nine-point lead to 41-35.
Topham’s three-pointer with 47 seconds left made the score 43-28, and Brian Wingert added a three with 19 seconds left to cut the lead to 45-41.
A PBHS steal of an inbound pass and layup made it a two-point game with 15 seconds left.
MHS would make just one of four free throws during its next two possessions, leading up to the Topham desperation three.
It didn’t look like the game would come down to the final shot early on, as Marion jumped ahead 6-0.
Senior Luke Gordon scored eight points in the first quarter, and MHS led 12-8 after one period.
Marion increased the lead to 25-15, but Topham nailed a long two just before the buzzer, and PBHS trailed by eight at the break.
PBHS kept picking away at the lead, but the Warrior upperclassmen would not let them come back all the way.
Gordon and fellow senior Elliot Hett, and juniors Eric Vogel and Isaac Hett combined to score 44 of Marion’s 46 points, as well as contribute 19 of the team’s 27 rebounds.
McMillin said he hopes to even out the scoring a little more, but was pleased with the inside play of his team.
Marion out-rebounded PBHS by five, including 11-7 on the offensive end.
Vogel had a hard-earned 12 points by grabbing seven offensive rebounds.
He and his teammates had to scrape hard for every point against the scrappy PBHS Warriors that forced 21 Marion turnovers.
McMillin noticed the sloppy play of his team, but also realized, in the end, his team is now 1-0.
“We didn’t necessarily play really well, but we got the win,” he said.
MHS will try for its second victory at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in a semifinal match-up with Belle Plaine after the Dragons defeated Eureka .
The winner of that game will play at 8:15 p.m. Saturday for the tournament championship