Marion rallies, falls to Jonesboro

Marion rallies, falls to Jonesboro

Sports Editor JONESBORO — Already locked into the No. 3 seed for the Class 6A state tournament this week, the Marion Lady Patriots had one, final opportunity to come up with a key win on the road.

However, for the third time this season, Jonesboro was able to hold Marion off, winning on Friday night 48-45 at Don Riggs Hurricane Gymnasium.

Jonesboro led by as many as 12 points in the game, including at the end of the third quarter, but Marion fought back. The Lady Pats got within three points on a Kennedi Boykins threepointer with 1:17 left in regulation. Boykins’ bonus jumper made the score 4643.

That score held as Jonesboro missed the frontend of a pair of one-andone opportunities with less than 53 seconds left in the game. For the first three quarters, it didn’t appear as though Jonesboro would need any late heroics to drop Marion. The Lady Golden Hurricane forced 14 Marion turnovers before the fourth frame and led 3927, while the Lady Pats had connected on just 13 of 31 field goals.

Marion took much better care of the ball in the fourth and turned Jonesboro over four times to aid the rally.

“A lot of that (big lead) had to do with our press,” explained Jonesboro head coach Jodi Cristenberry. “We pulled out in the fourth quarter because I got worried about fatigue and they kept getting lobs down there and getting easy buckets with their bigs. We probably shouldn’t have done that.”

By Chuck Livingston