Little Rock Central escapes Marion with the win

Early turnovers doom Lady Patriots in home opener

By CHUCK LIVINGSTON

Little Rock Central started fast last night, forcing 10 first-quarter turnovers and scoring the first 12 points of the game in a 74-59 victory at Fidelity Bank Arena over Marion.

Central junior guard Jordan Marshall recorded a teamhigh 15 points with eight rebounds, Alivia Montgomery hit 11 points, and Kiaya Davis added nine.

Marion senior post Alyse Holliman recorded a gamehigh 23 points and eight boards while senior guard Aaliyah Taylor poured in 12 points and Kiera Neal added nine.

“This was a good win for us,” said Central head coach Marlon Williams. “We wanted to get a test on the road, and we got that tonight. They got after us the whole way.”

Central proved to be the aggressors from the jump, turning five Marion turnovers into 10 points in the first quarter, taking a 12-0 lead with 4:14 left in the opening frame when Ky Wilson scored on a layup to force a Marion timeout.

Marion worked within 15-7 later in the frame, but the visitors led 20-7 at the end of the initial quarter when Taylor Day-Davis’s three-pointer beat the buzzer.

Central limited Marion to just three of 17 shooting over the first eight minutes.

The Lady Tigers took their largest lead of the first half (34-15) when Day-Davis connected on a triple, but Central had to settle for a 35-19 lead at halftime as Holliman converted a three-point play late in the second stanza to keep the Lady Pats within striking distance.

Central scored nine of the first 11 points of the third period to claim a 44-21 lead to force a Marion timeout, but Taylor hit the first of her four third-period three-pointers to get the Lady Pats within 44-27 with 5:11 left in the frame.

Taylor found the range again with 4:05 remaining to get Marion within 4630, and Taylor’s third triple made it 53-38.

But Davis and Marshall had the answers for Central as they both connected on triples of their own to close out the period with the Lady Tigers ahead 58-45.

“I thought that was a good response for our girls because they pushed us a little bit,” admitted Williams. “But that’s why we wanted to play a good team on the road, to see how we’d handle a situation like that.”

A Day-Davis three-point play gave the Lady Tigers a 63-47 lead early in the fourth, but a pair of Holliman free throws and a Ny’Asia Jackson three-pointer got Marion within 63-52 before Aven Sasser scored six Central points in a row.

Marion got within 13 twice late in the fourth quarter before Central closed out by forcing turnovers on three of the hosts’ final four posses- sions.

The Marion Patriots girls basketball team dropped its home opener to Little Rock Central. The Pats will look to rebound from the loss after the Thanksgiving break.

Photo by Chuck Livingston