Staff writer
The Marion High School girls basketball played physically against Berean in the first quarter of the Marion Classic Championship game on Saturday.
On one particular play in the first quarter, Berean’s leading scorer and the Marion Classic’s most inspirational player, Janelle Rust, and Marion forward Julia Zeiner were both going after a loose ball along the far sideline. Zeiner, running at full speed, supplanted Rust in earth-rattling fashion, sending Rust to the hardwood. After the unintentional contact, Rust left the floor with a split lip. She was forced to sit out the remainder of the first half.
The Warriors opened up a commanding 21-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Zeiner was the key Marion player in the first half. She created havoc at the point of Marion’s full-court zone press, tipping several balls that resulted in steals, and she was a dual-threat scorer with midrange shots and dribble drives. She ended the game as Marion’s leading scorer with 17 points.
She also defended Rust in an important one-on-one matchup. She held Rust to just 12 points.
“I knew she was really good,” Zeiner said of Rust. “I wanted to make it challenging for her.”
Even with a slow start, Berean would not go quietly into the night. Berean woke up in the second quarter and slowly started to chip away at the Marion lead. Marion also hit a bit of a cold shooting streak. Marion led by only six at halftime, 30-24.
In the second half, Berean ramped up its full-court pressure and eventually tied the score at 34 in the third quarter.
That’s when Whitney Gordon became an absolute force.
While Marion continued to struggle from the floor, Gordon went to work on the offensive glass. On several Marion possessions, Gordon was able to sink into the Berean zone and use her height to grab rebounds over the top of Berean defenders. She ended the game with 11 offensive rebounds — 14 total rebounds — and 16 points. With Gordon’s second-chance efforts, Marion never gave up the lead and eventually held off Berean, 51-48.
To get to the championship game, the Lady Warriors defeated Remington, 60-40, on Thursday.
The hot shooting of Kayley Heerey was the key to the win. Heerey hit six 3-pointers and scored 20 points. At one point in the second quarter, she hit treys in consecutive Marion possessions. Five of her six threes came in the first half. Her shooting prowess was representative of the whole team: the Warriors shot 50 percent from the field and 57 percent behind the arc.
“When we’re on, we’re on,” Heerey said.
Marion head coach Randy Savage was happy with the ball movement on offense that created open looks.
“The girls did a nice job of reversing the ball for shots,” he said.
Heerey, Zeiner, and Lindsay Hett were the Warrior representatives on the Marion Classic all-tournament team.