Lady Pats turn up pressure in victory

5A-EAST GIRLS MARION 56, BATESVILLE 52

BATESVILLE — With their backs pressed firmly against the wall following back-to-back conference losses, the Marion Lady Patriots turned to their old standby to flip a potential road loss into victory.

Marion trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half, but the Lady Patriots broke out their full-court press and forced 13 second-half turnovers to turn away Batesville 56-52 on Tuesday night inside Pioneer Gymnasium.

“I’m glad we pulled it out because we came out really flat in the first half,” Marion Coach Shunda Johnson said. “Batesville is a team that’s playing a lot better here in the second half of conference play, and we almost found out the hard way tonight.”

Sophomore Madison Glaspie paced Marion (14-10, 6-5 5A-East) with 18 points, while senior point guard Ny’Asia Jackson hit 15 points, 5 assists and 5 steals.

Batesville fell despite getting a game-high 21 points from Briley Pulliaum as well as 12 points and nine rebounds from Serenity Patterson.

The Lady Pioneers made 10 of their 13 field-goal attempts in the first eight minutes and hitting 3 of 4 three-point attempts to lead 22-15 after the first quarter.

A Pulliaum three-pointer gave Batesville a 31-19 lead early in the second quarter, but Marion got within 33-26 at halftime when Jackson swished a three-pointer with 38.4 seconds left.

Glaspie sparked a 10-0 Marion run with a short jumper, and when Ayanna Hayes came up with a steal at midcourt and scored a layup, the Lady Pats enjoyed their first lead at 38-37. Glaspie completed the run on the following possession with a layup for a 40-37 advantage. Glaspie and Jackson scored in the lane to cap the third-quarter scoring.

A three-pointer from Glaspie and a Cheers layup gave Marion a 49-37 lead early in the fourth quarter, but Batesville battled back to get within 5250 with 1:17 left on a Patterson layup.

From there, Marion got a three-point play from Cheers and a Glaspie free throw to cap the scoring.