With exams being taken and school letting out for the holidays, there hasn’t been a whole lot of girls basketball action in Marion County over the past week.
East Marion (4-4) and West Marion (2-7) clashed in Foxworth last Friday night, and the more experienced Lady Eagles cruised to a 55-25 win over the Lady Trojans.
It was evident that the Lady Eagles have simply spent more time over the past few seasons playing together than the West Marion girls have, evidenced by the amount of turnovers committed by the Lady Trojans.
East Marion was led by Tytianna Porter’s 18 points and nine rebounds and RaQquiya Haynes’ 12 points. Dontajha Stepney added eight points, while Amber Willis chipped in seven.
The Lady Eagles played in their host tournament Thursday night against Columbia, but results were not available at press time. They played in either the consolation game (4 p.m.) or the championship game (7 p.m.) Friday night.
Columbia Academy, meanwhile, improved to 7-5 last weekend with home wins over Simpson Academy and Presbyterian Christian last Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The Lady Cougars topped Simpson 33-25 behind a hot shooting night from Lauren Rowley, who went off for 19 points, though head coach Dale Watts called the game “really hard.”
“They had a post girl that shouldn’t have given us a lot of trouble, but she did. Simpson has a really experienced team and had their whole team back from last year,” he said. “It was a real dog fight the first half, then the second half we were able to get a little bit of a lead. Lauren kept us in the game in the first half, then we limited their rebounds and overall, we didn’t turn the ball over and were able to finish and control the game.”
Saturday night was a much different story, however, as the Lady Cougars cruised to a 48-21 win over PCS.
The Lady Bobcats depend on shooting threes to generate their offense, but CA was able to stifle their shooters all night. Gabby Sullivan got hot from deep, scoring 15 points, and Rowley matched her output with 15 points of her own, while Morgan Jones added 10.
“We were able to contest (their threes), and they didn’t shoot those well and we rebounded real well,” Watts said. “Gabby — we know she can — but she ended up hitting a couple of threes, and that really opened it up for us. I think we’re coming around. I’m sure we’ll take a step back with the holidays since we’re off until our tournament.”
Though the Lady Cougars are 12 games into their season, they are still adjusting to Watts in his first year directing the girls program.
“We teach and teach, but when they get under pressure their old self would come out, whatever they did in the past. But that’s getting better. They’re adjusting to what I want them to do,” he said. “I have one big saying, ‘I want them to think like I think,’ and that takes time for them to get to that point.”
Next up for the Lady Cougars and the Lady Trojans is the Columbia Academy Holiday Tournament. Columbia Academy will take on East Rankin Academy Thursday night, West Marion Friday night and Brookhaven Academy Saturday night, all scheduled to tip off at 6:35. Along with its Friday matchup with CA, West Marion will take on Brookhaven Thursday and East Rankin Saturday, with both tipoffs set for 3:45 p.m.
With four teams in the field, each team will get a chance to play one another in the round robin tournament. While it is set up in pool play format, there will be a champion crowned. If any of the four teams — CA, East Rankin Academy, Brookhaven Academy and West Marion — goes 3-0, it will receive the championship trophy. If two teams tie at 2-1, the winner will be determined by their head-to-head matchup. If three teams happen to finish 1-2, the winner will be decided by defensive points allowed.
Pictured Above: East Marion’s Amber Willis prepares to go up for a layup at West Marion last Friday night. East won 55-25. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
