Marion overwhelms Lakeside in Class 5A state tournament
SHERIDAN — Flexing the muscle of the 5A-East conference, Marion eased past Lakeside 57-27 at Yellowjacket Arena Wednesday night in the Class 5A state basketball tournament.
Marion (20-10) entered Wednesday’s contest as the No. 3 seed from the 5A-East, and Lakeside (18-8) was the No. 2 team from the 5A-South.
“A lot of athletes, man,” Lakeside head coach Jay Williams said about the 5A-East. “They get to play against some of the best of the best week in and week out. That works to their favor, and it works to their advantage. That’s something we’ve got to get accustomed to playing out of the South.”
Marion head coach Shunda Johnson said every team in the 5A-East has good players.
“I mean they defend — they box out and rebound,” she said. “They’re pretty crafty with the ball. They’re also able to get to the basket, so we see so many different styles of play in the 5A-East. We have high tempo, and then we’ve got kids and teams that slow the ball down and change the pace and slow the pace down.”
The Lady Rams kept the game close in the first quarter but trailed 25-14 heading into halftime. The Lady Patriots really took control of the contest in the second half.
“A lot of athleticism,” Williams said. “A lot of dog in them. They’re a team that plays really, really aggressive. Everything works out in their favor when they do that. They’re a good ball club.”
After a slow start to the third quarter for Lakeside, Falencia Selvy scored a quick basket for the Lady Patriots.
Allie Pollock tried to back down defenders in the paint before unleashing a shot that did not fall, and Marion’s Kiera Neal answered with a basket in transition.
Trailing 29-14, Amelia Rogers tried to make something with a mid-range jumper, but the sophomore could not get her shot in the basket. Ronni Formby finally got the Lady Rams on the scoreboard in the second half with a free throw.
Formby returned to the line and hit another free throw to make the scoreline 29-16.
After a Lakeside turnover, Taylor Little scored in the paint for Marion. Rogers was able to answer with a transition layup, but the Lady Patriots closed out the third quarter on a 6-2 run.
Ny’asia Jackson left the Yellowjacket Arena crowd in awe after a fancy move to the basket
to give the Lady Patriots a 3720 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
“They killed us on the offensive rebounds,” Williams said. “They did a lot of things good in transition. We didn’t block out. We didn’t do the little things we knew we needed to do coming into this game. The score speaks for itself.”
Marion scored three quick baskets to start the game’s final eight minutes and forced Williams into a timeout with just 44 seconds off the clock. After the timeout, Rogers added two free throws for the Lady Rams.
Little got hot for the Patriots and dribbled past a defender in the paint to increase Marion’s lead to 45-22.
Then, Little spun and banked in another shot to give the Lady Patriots a 25-point edge. Keeping all the momentum with Marion, Alyse Holliman pulled down an offensive rebound and scored for a 51-22 lead.
Sarah Porter drained a 3-pointer to give the Lady Rams their first basket since early in the quarter, and Mady Davenport scored Lakeside’s final points with a physical layup.
Porter led Lakeside with seven points, and Rogers scored six for the Lady Rams.
“Had a heck of a season,” Williams said. “I thought we could’ve done better. But what do you do? All you can do is just go to the offseason, try to get better, try to correct some mistakes and hopefully we can get back here next year.”
Neal led Marion with 16 points, and Holliman tallied 11 points for the Lady Patriots. Despite a decent offensive performance, Johnson said it was defense that worked really well for Marion Wednesday.
“Our defense,” she said. “We picked up full court. We went man-to-man, and we just tried to make sure we kept people in front of us. We tried to make sure we defended tonight.”
Marion will face the No. 1 seed from the 5A-Central, Jacksonville, in the quarterfinals today at 1 p.m.
“Hopefully we can capitalize on our defensive intensity,” Johnson said. “We can keep that to a high level and go out here and box out and stop (Da’karya) Jackson from Jacksonville. Celebrate for a few minutes and get ready so we can break down film and watch film tomorrow on Jacksonville and prepare.”
Wednesday night’s loss marked the end of Williams’ first season at the helm of the Lady Rams. Although Lakeside will lose some valuable senior talent including Porter, Formby and Davenport, the Lady Rams will also return some promising young talent.
“Next season they’ll be more accustomed to the system that we’re trying to run,” he said. “We’re just trying to do things the right way and get these girls on the path we feel is necessary for the South conference. We’ll be back next year hopefully. They had a great season. I’m proud overall. Things just didn’t go our way tonight.”