Marion girls cruise, boys lose at Ell-Saline

By DAVID COLBURN

News editor

Marion High girls’ basketball opened the new year in style with a blowout 49-24 road win over Ell-Saline.

Officials were overly generous with their whistles, calling 51 fouls on both teams. Marion players scored almost as many points from the free throw line, 23, as Ell-Saline scored altogether.

“The reason they were fouling us was that we were being aggressive with the basketball,” coach Kelly Robson said. “Several players got a chance to score for us simply because they got a chance to go to the free throw line.”

Marion wasted no time taking control of the game, leading 12-4 at the quarter and 28-8 at halftime.

“The girls were ready to put it to them right away,” Robson said.

Scoring evened out in the second half as Robson emptied his bench, with 10 players notching scores.

Kourtney Hansen led the way with 14 points, hitting 6-of-10 free throws. Robson was pleased with her overall play.

“She continued to do a nice job of handling the basketball and distributing to others,” he said. “She had several assists.”

Boys

Battling hard throughout the game, Marion was on the brink of a payoff with seconds left in the game but couldn’t cash in, losing a 42-41 heartbreaker.

Marion took a 41-40 lead when Noah Dalrymple scored on a baseline dish from Sam Zinn with just 4.9 seconds to play.

Dalrymple was fouled on the play and stepped to the line with a chance to give the Warriors a two-point lead, but missed the charity.

Ell-Saline grabbed the rebound with just enough time to get the ball to senior Nathan Parks, who scored on a contested layup as time expired to shock the Warriors 42-41.

The bucket spoiled a dominating third quarter comeback by the Warriors, who turned a 21-15 halftime deficit into a 31-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.

Chase Stringer led all scores with 14 points. Dalrymple finished with 9.