Marion girls can’t keep pace, lose to Nettleton on the road

Marion girls can’t keep pace, lose to Nettleton on the road

Despite 3 strong quarters from Lady Pats, 4th quarter offensive explosion seals win for Lady Raiders

sports@theeveningtimes.com

The Marion Lady Patriots (5-4 overall, 2-2 5A/6A East Conference) lost to the Nettleton Lady Raiders (10-0, 4-0) 64-53 earlier this week.

The Marion ladies entered the fourth quarter tied up with the No. 1 ranked team in the state of Arkansas, according to Maxpreps.com. However, a 25-point final quarter of play catapulted the undefeated Lady Raiders to their tenth straight victory.

Lady Patriots Head Coach Shunda Johnson believes the energy began to favor the Lady Raiders following a time-out by Nettleton in the fourth quarter.

“We made a run to take a 1 point lead and Nettleton called a time-out,” Johnson said. “When they called a time-out, that really killed the momentum. We had two crucial turnovers at the end. We just have to learn how to make the adjustments.”

The difference in the 11point game, according to Johnson, was free throws.

The Lady Raiders connected on 30-41 free throw attempts, while the Lady Patriots went just 9-19 from the charity stripe.

Johnson, while slightly questioning the discrepancy in fouls called, preaches that her team must adjust to the way the game is called.

“I’m not really sure what they (the referees) were thinking when the foul count is that way,” Johnson said. “When you look at 19 compared to 41 free throws, I don’t think we’re the only team fouling like that. All I know is that if we they’re calling every touch then we have to make the adjustments and when we do get to the line we have to be able to convert.”

Another area in which the Lady Patriots lost the game is rebounding. Johnson believes the Lady Patriots did not rebound intense enough to win the game.

We didn’t do a very good job of blocking out and getting rebounds,” Johnson said. “We got caught standing and looking when the ball was shot. I asked them to make contact first then push back and get the rebound and they just didn’t do that.”

Despite giving up 64 points, Johnson feels that the Marion ladies played well enough defensively to win the game had the Lady Patriots rebounded more effectively.

“We had good defensive possessions where we forced them to take bad shots, we just didn’t block out and rebound,” Johnson said. “We played decent defense but the fact that they got the offensive rebound hurt. If they (the Lady Patriots) can ever become a defensive rebounding team, I really believe that they can be special.”

Marion senior Tramauryia Marie Hunter led the Lady Patriots in scoring, pumping in 25 points on 9 field goals and 3 deep balls.

Angel Davie connected from downtown twice on her way to 10 points on the night and Jakkya Clay contributed 7 points to the Lady Pats loss.

The Lady Patriots have shown flashes of brilliance this year such as the ladies 79-21 victory over Wynne. However, while impressive at times, the Lady Pats have failed to win consecutive games ever since the first two games of the season which the ladies defeated Little Rock Parkview and Earle.

Johnson believes winning back-to-back games takes a mindset that the Marion ladies must have later in the season.

“That’s a mental toughness situation,” Johnson said. “Not being able to win consecutively is not going to be good during the district or state tournament. Those are do or die.

So hopefully we can learn from all this and make the proper adjustments in order to move forward. We believe we can play with any team any given night.” The Lady Patriots are out of action for the following week due to Christmas break. The Marion ladies take the hardwood next in the Dragonfire Christmas Tournament in Collierville. The Lady Patriots will tip off in Collierville on December 27th.

By Collins Peeples