Lady Patriots fall to Lady Bombers

Lady Patriots fall to Lady Bombers

Marion girls drop key conference game to Mountain Home

By Tyler Bennett Marion School District The Lady Patriots (1312, 5-6) fought hard in the second half, but dropped a close game to the Lady Bombers (15-9, 7-4) Tuesday night against Mountain Home.

The game was close early. The Lady Pats were tied with the Lady Bombers at eight apiece after the first quarter of play. Neither team seemed very aggressive from the start, but the Lady Bombers were ready for the second quarter.

The Lady Bomber defense held the Lady Pats to three points in the second quarter and managed to create points out of Marion turnovers. Mountain Home made two three pointers in the second and outscored the Lady Pats 16-3 to lead 24-11 at the break.

However, the Lady Pats once again elevated their play coming out of halftime as they have so many times this season. Marion scored 17 points in the quarter. The poor first half performance still hurt the Lady Pats, because unlike the other games, the visitors were able to hold serve and score 16 points of their own to keep a 40-28 lead as the teams went into the fourth quarter.

Marion outscored Mountain Home 17-12 in the final quarter, but it was still not enough to turn the tide.

The 52-45 loss dropped the Lady Pats to 5-6 in conference place, tying them with West Memphis for fifth place.

“We normally have a signature run in the third quarter like we did tonight, but we need to play four full quarters,” Head Coach Shunda Johnson said after the game. “We’ve got to have a sense of urgency in games like this. We can’t play hard against just Nettleton and then relax for two games like we have.”

Senior forward Mikaya McAdory led the Lady Pats with 14 points followed by junior guard Joi Montgomery with 13 points, including a three-point make.

Leading all scorers was Mountain Home’s Kate Gillbert with 22 points.

Up next for the Lady Patriots is a road trip this evening to Greene County Tech. The Lady Eagles (10-12, 3-8) were able to survive a late rally from the Lady Pats and escape the first game between the two teams this season with a 57-55 victory.

The games at Greene County Tech are scheduled to start at 6 p.m. A livestream for both games will be available for free at marionpatriots. com.