Staff writer
The Marion High School girls basketball team lost Friday to Berean Academy in Elbing, 53-21.
Marion started strong with steady dribbling by Emily Hett and Whitney Gordon to break presses. Their sure-handedness eventually led to assists on layups to open teammates Sarah Guetersloh and Donna Cady. The score was tied at 6-6 with 4 minutes and 4 seconds left in the opening quarter, but a change in Berean strategy led to Marion turnovers and a flurry of Berean points to put the home team on top.
Berean changed to a zone press with a half court trap. Advancing the ball up the sideline, several Marion players fell into the trap of two Berean defenders converging. Steals by Kayla Wilgers and Sam Hoover led to easy layups. Mallory Zuercher had two consecutive steals, swooping in from the backside of the trap that eventually led to her own layups.
“We just didn’t handle it well,” coach Randy Savage said of the press.
Marion was down 17-12 after one quarter. Berean’s pressure compounded and the home team’s offense started to click. Makayla Ladwig had 2 assists in the second quarter; she drove into the lane, drawing two Marion defenders, and quickly passed to the Berean forwards cutting through the backdoor along the baseline.
Turnovers created fast breaks that Wilgers executed for 3 assists. She drifted to one side of the key while dribbling down the middle of the floor, leaving enough room for a streaking teammate to score a layup uncontested and without a dribble.
“We don’t have anybody to stop that,” Savage said of the fast breaks. “(Wilgers) is just a special player.”
Marion was held scoreless in the second quarter and was down 26-12 at half. Even though they only shot 34.5 percent from the field, the Berean Warriors eventually took a 20-point lead in the third quarter that they stretched into the final margin of 32 points in the fourth quarter. Eight different Berean players scored, led by Zuercher with 14 and Wynette Sommerfeld with 10.
In contrast, Marion only had five players score with Gordon’s 8 points leading the way.
While Berean built its lead by forcing 23 Marion turnovers, they maintained it through rebounding. Berean outrebounded Marion 48 to 21. In a display of Berean’s dominance on the glass, Gordon was held to 6 total rebounds. It was the first time Gordon did not pull down at least 10 boards since Dec. 22 against Hillsboro.
“To the girls’ credit, they pointed out that we did not box out well,” Savage said. “In practice, if they don’t box out, they run back and forth once. That hasn’t translated to games yet.”