Lady Patriots drop two in conference play

Marion girls tagged with first losses in 5A East action

By CHUCK LIVINGSTON

Marion School District

The Marion girls basketball team suffered a pair of tough losses last week to a pair of tough 5A East opponents.

Valley View 60, Marion 58

JONESBORO — For three quarters Tuesday night at Blazer Arena, the Marion Lady Patriots looked poised to coast to their best win of the 2024-2025 season.

Entering the fourth period, Marion was in control of the contest, leading 51-35 after producing a 25-point third quarter.

But the fourth frame belonged to the Lady Blazers. Valley View forced eight Marion turnovers in the game’s final eight minutes while allowing their visitors to make just a pair of field goals in a dramatic 60-58 loss.

Marion is now 15-7 overall in ‘24-’25 and 5-1 in 5A East play ahead of a Friday home date with Greene County Tech at Fidelity Bank Arena. The tip-off of the girls game is around 6 p.m.

Marion fell despite getting 17 points from Jada Cheers, 14 from Summer Morgan, and 10 from Joniya Lewis.

Annika Wilbanks led the Valley View attack with a game-high 22 points, while Allanah Orsbt added 17 and Bella Seaman scored 11.

The wild second half came on the heels of a nip-andtuck first two quarters.

The game was knotted at 26 at halftime, and Valley View took a 31-29 lead on a Ruby Reynolds three-pointer with 6:16 left in the frame, but the Lady Pats took off on a 12-0 run to take their first double-digit lead (41-31) following a pair of Madison Glaspie free throws with 4:24 left in the frame.

A Morgan three-point play led to a pair of Lewis free throws, and when Ayanna Hayes scored the last three points of the frame, Marion’s lead was 51-35 after three quarters.

Lewis gave the Lady Pats a 53-37 lead with 7:16 left in regulation when she scored on a layup, but Valley View immediately embarked on a 13-0 run to get back into the contest.

A pair of Orsbt free throws got the Lady Blazers within 53-48 with 3:35 left in regulation, and Valley View got over the hump to take its first lead (57-56) of the second half following a pair of Wilbanks free throws with 1:19 left.

Two Orbst free throws pushed the Lady Blazer lead to 3 points, and Marion’s Jalee Meeks got the visitors within 59-48 with 5.7 before Bella Seeman set the final when she split a pair of free throws.

Greene Co. 59, Marion 45

For most of Friday night’s home date with league-leading Greene County Tech, the Marion Lady Patriots did enough to stay in the game.

The biggest difference in Tech’s 59-45 victory at Fidelity Bank Arena came on the glass, where the Lady Eagles (21-2 overall, 7-0 5A East) outboarded Marion 27-18, including eight offensive caroms, which helped the visitors shoot 53 percent of its shots.

Marion (15-8, 5-2) got eight points apiece from Madison Glaspie and Ayanna Hayes, while Summer Morgan added seven.

The Lady Eagles got a game-high 17 points from junior E’Marriah Johnson, while Weslyn Burnside added 12, and Sophia Gonzalez scored 10 points in the first half before exiting with injury.

The first quarter was knotted at 12 apiece late in the frame when Johnson recorded an offensive rebound, drew a foul, and sank two free throws for a 14-12 lead and Tech led 16-13 after the game’s initial 8 minutes.

Tech scored 6 straight points late in the second period and took its largest lead of the first half on a Johnson runner with 2:20 left in the second stanza, and the Lady Eagles carried a 29-23 lead to halftime.

Burnside turned an offensive rebound into a runner to give Tech a 9-point lead (38-29) with 2:05 left in the third, and the visitors took a 42-33 bulge to the fourth.

Greene Co. Tech claimed its first double-digit lead of the night (48-37) when Johnson scored on a layup, and the Lady Eagles led by as many as 16 points late in the contest.

What’s next?

Marion returns to action on Friday night when the Patriots host West Memphis in a key 5A East matchup. Tipoff of the girls contest is scheduled for 6 p.m., while the boys game gets underway around 7:30 p.m. You can watch the varsity girls and boys contests for free on the MPAN YouTube channel, on MarionPatriots.com, or on the MPAN mobile app.

Rankings rundown

Marion checked in this week at No. 20 in Score-BookLive.com’s weekly Top 25 Overall rankings.

Marion’s Ayanna Hayes (15) finishes a layup last week.

Photo by Eryn Edwards