It was a blue Tuesday at Marion Sports and Aquatics Center as both Marion teams dropped league contests against Moundridge.
The Wildcats came into the girls’ contest ranked seventh in Class 2A, and they wasted little time jumping on top, 8-0. The Warriors rebounded to pull within 19-14 at the half, but Moundridge pulled away for a 48-37 win.
The Warriors were manhandled in the boys’ game, coming out on the losing end of a 44-14 final.
Friday’s trip to Bennington resulted in a split decision against the Bulldogs.
The Warriors girls took care of business in a big way, handing the Bulldogs their second-worst loss of the season, 50-22.
After the Bulldogs took an early 5-4 lead, the Warriors banished them to the shooting doghouse, as Bennington failed to score from the field and tallied just one more free throw the rest of the first half, as the Warriors built a commanding 24-6 advantage. Marion owned the third quarter 17-8, and cruised home to the victory.
Marion’s defense was ferocious, forcing 22 Bennington turnovers and limiting the Bulldogs to just 6 shots in the second quarter.
Kourtney Hansen was the leading scorer with 13 points.
On the boys’ side, first-half woes spelled doom for Marion, as the Warriors fell 63-45.
The Warriors couldn’t get shots to drop in the first quarter as the Bulldogs raced to an 18-5 lead on their home court. Bennington widened the gap to 20 points, 35-15, at the half.
The second half was a different story. Marion matched Bennington point-for-point in the third quarter, and as consolation outscored the Bulldogs in fourth, led by the efforts of Mason Pedersen, who led Marion with 18 points for the game. But the Warriors couldn’t make significant headway, and fell by 18 points.