Staff writer
The Marion High School girls basketball team finished as state runner-up after losing, 56-45, to Hays Thomas More Prep Saturday in the 3A championship game in Hutchinson.
The score was not indicative of how close the Warriors actually came to overtaking the No. 1 seed. The Warriors tied the score at 33 in the second half and were within 1 point of the Monarchs, 41-40, with 3 minutes and 41 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
TMP used two 3-pointers to pull away from Marion. Monarch forward Jenna Lang shot a looping trey from the top of the key and Sophia Schippers hit a 3 from the corner near the Marion fans.
Saddled with four fouls, Julia Zeiner hit a turnaround jumper to make the score, 47-42, but time became Marion’s enemy. With only 1:37 left on the clock, the Warriors were forced to foul and the Monarchs built their 11-point advantage at the free-throw line.
The Warriors were led by a trio of double-digit scorers. Zeiner, Kayley Heerey, and Lindsay Hett scored 12, 11, and 10 points respectively.
Whitney Gordon added 7 points, nine rebounds, and two blocks.
The Warriors held the Monarchs to 34 percent shooting from the field, but TMP made 10 more free throws.
“I can’t complain,” Marion Head coach Randy Savage said of the Warriors luck. “That’s the way it goes.”
Hays Thomas More Prep..............56
Marion................................................45
Name FG FT PTS PF R S A
*Lundy 1/3 0/0 2 2 1 0 2
Cady 0/1 0/0 0 0 0 0 0
*Zeiner 6/11 0/2 12 4 6 1 1
*L. Hett 4/13 0/0 10 4 5 2 4
Gordon 2/6 2/2 7 2 9 0 2
*Heerey 3/14 3/4 11 2 7 0 3
*Steinborn 1/1 1/2 3 2 1 0 0
Jefferson County North
On Friday, Marion and No. 2-seed Winchester Jefferson County North played a close defensive game that eventually came down to a free throw in the closing seconds of the second-round game.
The score was tied at 41 after Kate Brickell of Jefferson County North made the first of two free throw attempts.
The Warriors could not rely on Zeiner — the Warriors leading scorer in the game with 13 points — because the star forward had fouled out, scrambling for a loose ball, only a few possessions earlier.
The game rested in the hands of Hett. With about 30 seconds remaining on the clock, she carried the ball up the length of the court and then drove down the side of the paint near the Marion crowd. She missed her contested, close-range attempt, but amid two Charger defenders she came down with the rebound. On her way back up to attempt a layin, she was fouled.
“I was thinking, ‘I need to make these two free throws,’” she said.
The Marion guard missed the first free throw. This was not the first time Hett faced a clutch situation. She hit the winning free throws to seal a victory on the road against Hesston and she hit a fade away jump shot against Burlington to win the Warriors semifinal substate matchup.
“What are the odds of Lindsay missing two?” Coach Savage said after the game with complete confidence that Hett would make her second free throw.
Hett made the second shot.
“I did the best to block reality out,” she said of her trance-like concentration on her second attempt.
With 11 seconds left on the clock, a JCN guard brought the ball up the court and Charger Coach Steve Noll called a timeout with 4.6 seconds remaining.
Off the inbounds pass, Jordan Kramer curled around the top of the key, getting open for the pass. Kramer dribbled down the side of the lane near the JCN faithful, driving just below the elbow before unleashing a floater. Kramer had been diabolical against Marion, scoring 24 points on 10-of-21 shooting, including four 3-pointers.
“I thought, ‘Oh no,’” Hett said as the shot was in the air.
But, the ball hit harmlessly on the other side of the rim. Time expired before Brickell could attempt a shot on the rebound. The players then rushed over to the Marion bench to be engulfed in a shower of hugs and adulation.
“We’ve all dreamed of this moment,” Hett said. “It can’t get better than this, playing for the championship.”
The Warriors won the game on the boards. Marion out rebounded JCN 45 to 34. Four Marion players had eight rebounds — Zeiner, Hett, Steinborn, and Gordon — and Heerey had seven. Several different Warriors came down with offensive rebounds when the game was within a basket or two for much of the third and fourth quarter.
Both teams struggled to score early in the game. JCN carried an 11-0 run well into the second quarter until Heerey ended the Marion drought by hitting two 3-pointers to end the half.
“It gave me my confidence back,” Heerey said. “We knew we were back in it.”
Marion................................................42
Jefferson County North................41
Name FG FT PTS PF R S A
*Lundy 1/4 0/0 3 2 3 3 1
*Zeiner 5/9 2/5 13 5 8 2 3
*L. Hett 5/10 2/4 10 2 8 1 4
Gordon 3/9 0/2 6 2 8 0 1
*Heerey 3/12 1/2 10 3 7 0 3
*Steinborn 0/4 0/2 0 1 8 1 2
Beloit
The Warriors defeated Beloit, 49-44, Thursday in Hutchinson in the first-round game of the 3A state tournament.
Sometimes the best athletes step up when the most is at stake and Thursday that athlete was Julia Zeiner.
Zeiner’s skills were on display against the Trojans. She was high scorer in the game with 17 points and tied Hett with eight rebounds.
On Thursday, two of Zeiner’s talents were apparent: her court vision and tenacity.
On one play, Zeiner drove down the middle of the lane, drawing two defenders. She then flipped a pass to Steinborn who entered the back door of the Beloit defense scoring a wide-open layup.
In the second half, Zeiner set up in a 3-point stance on the side of the court near the Marion fans. She gazed into the post where Gordon was being fronted by a Trojan defender. Zeiner then lobbed a pass that landed softly into Gordon’s right hand just inches away from the fingertips of the jumping Beloit forward. Gordon was then able to corral the ball and score the layin on her second leap.
Zeiner showed her tenacity late in the fourth quarter when Marion had the advantage, 42-38, and the ball. Zeiner had two offensive rebounds on the possession and hit the floor twice to chase loose balls. She was fouled on one dive and finished off the possession with two free throws, part of a 7-for-8 performance from the charity stripe for her. The possession ground the clock down to 1:41.
The game was not a one-man show for the Warriors. Hett also scored 12 points and tallied three assists. Heerey and Bridget Lundy stepped up on the boards, seizing seven and five rebounds respectively.
“We all stepped up when we needed to,” Zeiner said.
Lundy would have had six boards, but on one play, she boxed out her player so effectively that it forced the Trojan player to foul her and send the Marion guard to the line.
“I wish they would all box out like that,” Savage said in appreciation of Lundy’s effort.
The Warrior defense was stifling, holding Beloit to only 8 points in both the first and third quarters.
Marion switched up its defenses to confuse the Trojans, holding Beloit to 26 percent shooting from the floor. Marion played man, 2-3 zone, and executed a 1-2-1-1 half court trap that stymied the Trojans for most of the first half.
In the end, Savage gave the credit for the win to a group that has been everything for Marion all season.
“It helps to have seniors,” he said.
Marion................................................49
Beloit...................................................44
Name FG FT PTS PF R S A
*Lundy 0/3 0/3 0 4 5 3 2
Cady 1/3 0/0 2 2 2 0 0
*Zeiner 5/11 7/8 17 4 8 0 3
*L. Hett 5/10 2/4 12 2 8 3 3
Gordon 3/4 0/0 7 4 5 0 2
*Heerey 1/4 1/3 5 1 7 2 2
*Steinborn 3/6 0/0 6 2 0 1 0