Marion girls fighting for playoff berth
Lady Patriots keep postseason hopes alive with win over Batesville
By Chuck Livingston
Marion School District
BATESVILLE — With their backs pressed firmly against the wall following back-toback 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 to start the third period 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,” said Marion coach Shunda Johnson.
“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 overall, 6-5 5A East) with 18 points, while senior all-state point guard Ny’Asia Jackson hit 15 points, five assists, and five steals, while sophomore Jada Cheers added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Batesville fell despite getting
See HOOPS, page A9 HOOPS
From page A7
a game-high 21 points from Briley Pulliaum and 12 points and nine rebounds from Serenity Patterson.
The Lady Pioneers could do no wrong in the first period, connecting on 10 of their 13 field-goal attempts in the first eight minutes, including scorching the nets by making three of four three-point attempts to lead 22-15 after the opening frame.
A Pulliaum three-pointer gave Batesville a 31-19 lead early in the second stanza, but Marion got within 33-26 at halftime when Jackson swished a
See HOOPS, page A10
Photo by Chuck Livingston HOOPS
From page A9
three-pointer with 38.4 seconds left in the first half.
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, and Glaspie completed the run on the following possession with a layup for a 40-37 bulge. Glaspie and Jackson scored in the paint to cap the thirdquarter scoring as Marion enjoyed a 44-37 lead entering the fourth quarter.
“We got refocused and fought back in a big way,” said Johnson. “I was proud of that because they heard the message at halftime.”
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 52-50 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.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Marion hosts Greene County Tech on Friday night inside Fidelity Bank Arena. The junior varsity contest will tip at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity girls contest at 6, and the varsity boys tipping at approximately 7:30 p.m.
The Greene County Tech games will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel.
5A EAST RESULTS FROM 2/13
Marion 56, Batesville 52 Greene Co. Tech 56, Searcy 48 W. Memphis 63, Valley View 41 Nettleton 56, Paragould 44
5A EAST STANDINGS
Greene Co. Tech 11-0* Searcy 8-3* W. Memphis 7-4 MARION 6-5 Nettleton 6-5 Batesville 3-8 Valley View 3-8 Paragould 0-11 *clinched state tournament berth Top four teams make the playoffs.
