Marathon's varsity girls basketball team falls just short to a strong S.S. Seward

Photo from the Cortland Voice Photo Archives. (Ross Cohen/Cortland Voice).

Last night the Marathon varsity girls basketball team hosted S.S. Seward for what turned out to be a great game with all the excitement you could ask for on a cold winter night in a small town.

The Olympians would start the game by scoring 10-points in the first quarter. Brooke Tillotson with 6 of those and Kristi Walleye with 4. This was not enough as Seward’s senior Alexa Roach, came out blistering hot hitting three Field Goals and three 3-pointers in the opening quarter.   

Marathon would keep it as close of a game as possible with Tillotson scoring 12 more in the second quarter while Roach continued to stay hot with eight more points. By the end of the first half Seward had a 26-37 lead lead. 

Marathon’s defense would come out and shut Seward's scorers down in the third.

“We switched some matchups and doubled Roach when she got the ball," stated Marathon head coach Andrew Pierce. "The girls did a fantastic job.”  

Roach would only score four points and Seward only totaled seven against Marathon's 14-points to close the gap to 40-44. 

Marathon would trail by as much as 10 in the 4th quarter but they fought back with team attack that saw 5 different players scoring.  None bigger than Madison Clark’s 3-point field goal and inside layup to make it a 2 point game under one minute to play. 

“We ran one of the plays from out of bounds under the basket to perfection," coach Pierce stated. "Madison came off the screen perfectly. It’s fun to see them excited, playing hard and having fun.”

Marathon's rally came just short 60-57 as they couldn’t retrieve a rebound off a missed free throw as time expired.   

Seward's Roach would finish the game with a total of 35-points while Brooke Tillotson lead the way with 26 for Marathon. 

Up next, the Lady Olympians will be on the road, as they face Moravia Central on Tuesday, December 17th, 2019. The game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.