The Marathon varsity girls basketball team hosted IAC Small School North defending champions, Union Springs on Tuesday night. The game would be a hard fought and physical matchup that would see Union Springs beat Marathon to a score of 46-55.
Marathon used a balanced attack in the first quarter with four players scoring in the opening period. Both teams would briefly trade baskets before the Union Springs Wolves would take control of the game early, connecting on three 3-pointers in the first quarter to take an 18-10 lead over the Marathon Olympians.
Two more shots from beyond the arc in the second quarter would see the Wolves’ lead extend to 29-21 to end the half.
“We wanted to stay within striking distance in the first half,” said Marathon Head Coach Andrew Pierce. “Being down 8 at the half was a reasonable outcome against this team.”
Marathon would come out in a 1-3-1 defense in the third quarter, giving up 12 points and scoring 13 of their own.
“We did a lot of things well tonight to keep this one close,” added Coach Pierce. “Union Springs is a well-balanced, physical team with several offense threats.”
The Marathon fourth quarter defense was man to man. Even though the Wolves would only connect on 2 field goals in the final frame, they would get to the free throw line 11 times. Connecting on 10 of them.
“The girls worked hard all night,” stated coach Pierce. “I need to come up with some better options for us in the games that are close. It’s my job to get them in a position to win and it didn’t happen tonight.”
The Olympians would come as close as 4 points in the final minutes but with time slipping away needing to foul to extend the game, the Wolves would capitalize and seal the victory at 55-46.
The Olympians were led by Brooke Tillotson with 22 points on the night. Following Tillotson were Abigail Ensign with 12 points, Madison Clark with 6 points, and Anna Hoyt with 6 points.
The Wolves were led by Danielle Waldron with 24 points and Lilly Casler with 14 points.
Up next, the Marathon Olympians are scheduled to take on Union Springs for a rematch on the road this Thursday, March 4th. Tip off is at 5:30pm.
