Marion jumps on, rolls past Batesville
MARION — Marion girls basketball Coach Shunda Johnson preached a fast start prior to her team’s home date Tuesday evening with league rival Batesville.
It’s safe to say she got her wish.
The Marion Lady Patriots scored the first eight points of the game and led 29-7 after one quarter in Thursday’s 61-40 victory over visiting Batesville at Fidelity Bank Arena.
“We came out tonight with energy, effort, enthusiasm,” Johnson said. “I’m ecstatic that we made layups tonight for a change. We finished through contact, and just really played a good game.”
Marion (12-7, 4-3 5A-East) forced 27 Batesville (10-11, 1-6) turnovers, outrebounded the Lady Pioneers 26-19 and connected on 25 of its 55 field-goal attempts in the victory.
Four Lady Patriots hit double-figures, led by sophomore guard Madison Glaspie’s gamehigh 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists. Marion senior all-state guard Ny’Asia Jackson netted 12 points and a game-high 6 assists, junior forward Joniya Lewis scored 12 points with 8 rebounds and sophomore guard Jada Cheers finished with 11 points.
Melania Hendrix led Batesville with 12 points, while Briley Pulliam hit 11 points and 5 rebounds. Serenity Patterson led the Lady Pioneers with 11 rebounds.
Marion scored on its first three possessions against Batesville, opening the scoring with a Jackson three-pointer followed by a Glaspie layup. Jalee Meeks made a three of her own to give the Lady Pats an 8-0 lead with 6:45 left in the first quarter.
Following a Hendrix three-pointer, Marion went back to work with a Cheers jump shot, another Glaspie layup and a Lewis layup that gave the Lady Pats their first double-digit lead (14-3) with 3:56 left in the opening frame.
The Marion run continued when Cheers hit a long two-pointer, Lewis scored in the paint and Glaspie connected on a jumper from the free-throw line for a 20-5 Marion lead.
The Lady Pats closed out the dominant first quarter with three-pointers from Glaspie and Jackson, and three Cheers free throws in four attempts for a decisive 29-7 lead after 8 minutes.
“We felt okay after the first quarter, but we knew they had shooters,” Johnson said. “A lot of their lineups, all five players can take and make three-pointers, so we knew we had to protect for that.”
Jackson and Ayanna Hayes scored the first five points of the second quarter for the Lady Pats as they a 34-7 lead with 7:02 left in the first half.
But Batesville battled back from there as Pulliam scored six points in the second frame, including a short jumper with 8.3 seconds left in the second, to cut the lead to 38-15 at the break.
A 6-0 Marion run in the third quarter featured layups by Lewis and Hayes and a pair of Jackson free throws as it claimed its largest lead of the game (52-23) with 3:08 left in the third. The hosts settled for a 52-27 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Following a jump shot from Batesville’s Hadley Cunningham to open the fourth-quarter scoring, Marion scored the next six points for a 56-29 lead before mass substitutions.