Lady Patriots double up on Cabot, win 63-31

Marion girls move to .500 to start the 2024-25 season

By Chuck Livingston

Marion School District

Veteran Marion head girls basketball coach Shunda Johnson preached almost two whole days that her team was better than it showed in their season opener on Tuesday against Little Rock Central.

On Thursday night, her team responded.

Marion scored the game’s first six points against Class 6A Cabot and never trailed en route to a 63-31 victory inside Fidelity Bank Arena, a victory that evens the Lady Pats’ 2024-2025 record at 1-1 overall.

“We’d really had hard conversations since our first game, and we told the girls that we needed more effort and attentiveness,” said Johnson after the game. “The good thing is I thought

See PATS, page A9

Photo by Eryn Edwards PATS

From page A7

our team really responded to that and bought in. We played really hard against Cabot.”

Marion got a game-high 15 points from junior Jada Cheers, while Ayanna Hayes hit for 14, Jordyn Wilkerson finished with 10 and Joniya Lewis and Madison Glaspie added nine apiece.

Kaitlyn Graves led Cabot with nine points, while Lily Boles hit for eight.

Marion forced 19 Cabot turnovers in the game and trimmed their total from the LR Central game in half, finishing with just 10 giveaways on their own.

“We were really focused on protecting the ball and not doing silly things on offense,” said Johnson. “Then defensively, we were able to force some and turned them into easy points.”

Marion rode some hot shooting from distance to the big first-quarter lead as Hayes canned a pair of three-pointers in the opening frame, while Wilkerson chipped in with eight points in the first eight minutes on her own and the Lady Pats led 23-8 after eight minutes.

The Lady Pats got seven points in the second stanza from senior Joniya Lewis while Cheers scored four and Marion opened up a 36-18 lead at halftime.

Marion got points from five players in the third quarter as the Lady Pats claimed their first 20-point lead on a Glaspie layup.

The Lady Patriots clinched victory by surrendering only three points in the fourth quarter.