In a close, defensive battle that featured many turnovers, the East Marion Lady Eagles prevailed 39-34 against the West Marion Lady Trojans Friday in Foxworth.
Neither coach was particularly pleased with their respective team’s performance, but it was Calvin Brown’s Lady Eagles that pulled away to come out on top.
“I’m just glad we got it done because, at the end of the day, we still had our customary 30 turnovers. There’s a lot we’re not pleased with, but we were satisfied with that final score,” the veteran head coach said. “Obviously, we can improve on our decision making, offensive execution – everything that you do with the ball, we know we have to improve on. We did take away some areas of the floor. We had multiple double-digit rebounders, so there were a lot of positives to take away from it.”
On the opposite side of the court, execution was the least of West Marion head coach Calvin Newsome’s concerns.
“I saw a lack of effort, no desire to really just play. It was the first game (since) I’ve been here as head coach to see that non-desire to play and compete against a rival team,” he said. “I told them the better team won, and they just wanted it more than we did.”
Newsome said the team is still undergoing growing pains, adding that it’s a “process” to replace leaders from last year such as Raven Jones, Olivia Miller, Ka’Niyah Dillon and Paris Thompson.
For the Lady Eagles, sophomore Kylie Watts led the team in scoring with 15 points on just shy of 50% shooting from the field.
East Marion traveled across town to take on Columbia Tuesday (results were unavailable at press time) before traveling to Lumberton Friday. The Lady Eagles return home Dec. 21 for the East Marion Holiday Classic.
The Lady Trojans are slated to take on Richton on the road Thursday before hosting Columbia Friday in another rivalry clash. Tip-off from Foxworth between Columbia and West Marion is scheduled for 6 p.m.
