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MHS girls have mixed results at Inman

For the Marion High School varsity girls' basketball team, last week's Inman invitational tournament was the best of times, and the worst of times.

The high note for the Lady Warriors came Dec. 5, at home against Inman.

After playing an evenly-matched first half, the Lady Warriors trailed Inman by as many as five points in the third quarter before drawing back to within one, 37-36, at the start of the final period.

The Lady Teutons had expanded their lead to 39-36, when Kayley Heerey knotted the score with a three-point basket, and touched off the Lady Warriors' most prolific quarter of the young season.

Erin Carr and Lindsay Hett canned treys on the next two Marion possessions, and Heerey tossed in another to stake Marion to a 48-41 advantage.

Inman cut the gap to one, 48-47, but Morgan Cady scored a basket and Lauren Helmer added two free throws to increase the Lady Warriors' cushion to 52-47.

Kimber Hardey then ripped off six straight points, on two baskets and two free throws, giving Marion a 58-50 lead. The Lady Teutons failed to score the rest of the way, as two Carr free throws and a Cady basket accounted for the 62-50 final.

"Our shooting was phenomenal for the evening," said Marion head coach Daryl Enos. "Any time you put 13 threes in the basket, that's impressive."

Carr led Marion scoring with 17, followed by Heerey with 12, and Kalaya Jackson with eight.

Enos noted his team showed other improvements from their prior outing against Chase County.

"Our turnover rate was less, and our fouling was down some," he observed.

Enos found areas of concern his team needed to focus on in subsequent games.

"Our defense still needed some work," he said. "They also pretty much shut our inside game off."

Those shortcomings would come back to haunt the Lady Warriors in their next two tournament games, Thursday against St. John, and Friday against Garden Plain.

St. John ran roughshod over the Lady Warriors, using pressure defense to create scoring opportunities off turnovers, while holding Marion to single-digit scoring in three quarters.

Marion found no answers defensively, as the Lady Tigers led 26-13 after the first quarter, 45-21 at the half, and won handily, 75-36.

"We found out what the other side was like," Enos lamented. "They came out and just lighted us up with their pressure, and we didn't handle that well."

The outcome against Garden Plain was more of the same, as the Lady Owls cruised to an easy 63-34 victory.

Garden Plain scored at will against the interior of the Marion zone, as the Lady Owls raced to a commanding 30-12 first quarter lead.

The Lady Warriors managed to hold their own over the next two quarters, due in part to Garden Plain taking the opportunity to give its bench more playing time. The Lady Owls used a fourth quarter scoring surge to complete the rout.

"I wasn't really expecting that," said Enos, who had anticipated a closer contest when comparing the teams' similar performances against Inman.

"I know what we're trying to do is solid, it's sound, it's won a lot of ball games for me before," Enos said.

"They're good enough to get the job done," said Enos of his squad. "They just have to start believing and start doing."

Following a Tuesday night trip to Lyons to take on the Lady Lions, Marion is back in action Friday against Smoky Valley, at Marion High School Gymnasium.

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