Lady Patriots secure playoff berth
Marion girls top Batesville to lock up postseason invite
By CHUCK LIVINGSTON
Marion School District
BATESVILLE — It was a long off-season for the Marion girls basketball team after missing the state tournament last spring by losing out on a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot.
On Saturday afternoon, Marion completed its journey.
In a rescheduled conference game from Friday evening, Marion erased an early 9-4 lead inside Batesville’s Pioneer Gymnasium to pull away for an 86-66 road victory that marks Marion’s highest-scoring game so far for the 20242025 basketball season.
Marion (19-9 overall, 9-3 5A East) set up a crucial Tuesday home date with Valley View (23-5, 9-3) by forcing 24 Batesville turnovers, turning many of them into quick points to spark the Lady Patriot rally.
The visitors put five players in double-digits at Batesville, led by Joniya Lewis’s teamhigh 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Ayanna Hayes scored 16, Summer Morgan finished with 12 points, Madison Glaspie and Jada Cheers pumped in 11 points apiece.
Batesville (10-15, 3-9) got a massive game from Briley Pulliam, who scored 28 points with eight rebounds, Melanie Hendrix scored 14 points with five assists, and Serenity Patterson hit for nine.
The Lady Pioneers staged the early lead by limiting Marion to one shot, but the Lady Patriots sped the game up by forcing 5 Batesville turnovers after falling behind 9-4, and Marion finished the first quarter out on a 16-5 run to lead 20-14 after 8 minutes.
Marion claimed its first double-digit lead of the afternoon with 5:35 left in the second quarter when Hayes hit Maryah Rucks for a layup and a 30-19 Patriot advantage.
The Lady Patriot full-court press harassed Batesville into 10 second-quarter turnovers, while Marion also out-rebounded Batesville 13-3 in the same frame and the visitors led 46-26 at halftime.
Pulliam kept Batesville afloat, scoring 11 in the third period alone, but Marion made 11 of 14 free throws in the same time frame to carry a 6850 lead to the fourth quarter.
Marion took an 82-61 lead with 1:34 left in regulation following a Cheers stick-back, signaling the Lady Patriots’ largest lead of the fourth quarter.
Marion has clinched its spot in the state tournament, but the Lady Patriots can still finish as high as the No. 2 playoff seed should MHS win out and earn the tiebreaker from Valley View on Tuesday night. Valley View won the first meeting with Marion in January by two points.
5A East results from 2/22
Marion 86, Batesville 66 Greene Co. Tech 48, Valley View 40 Searcy 61, Paragould 44 Nettleton 58, West Memphis 42
5A East standings
■ ■ Greene Co. Tech 12-0 *+
■ ■ Valley View 9-3*
■ ■ Marion 9-3*
■ ■ Nettleton 7-5
■ ■ W. Memphis 5-7
■ ■ Searcy 3-9
■ ■ Batesville 3-9
■ ■ Paragould 0-12 *Clinched spot in state tournament +Clinched conference title and No. 1 playoff seed
Marion’s Jada Cheers (11) defends a Batesville ball-handler during Marion’s victory Saturday afternoon at Pioneer Gymnasium.
Photo by Eryn Edwards
