In Sunday’s second game of the Hoopfest for the Lady Marshals, their 45-29 win over Webster County was another display of their great defensive play that held the Lady Trojans to their lowest point total of the season.
“To hold Mercy to 32 last night and hold Webster to 29 today, our defense is where it needs to be”, Coach Aaron Beth said.
Webster County pressed and doubled teamed the Lady Marshals coming right out of the gate which played in their favor with an 8-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
That all changed in the second quarter when the Lady Marshals out-scored them 22-10 to go up 28-18 at halftime. Layne Pea and Sophie Galloway each with six points in the second quarter led six players in the scoring column.
“Shots didn’t fall but our defense was really good again especially that second quarter”, Beth said of the first half. “I think we turned them over seven times. Sophie’s just so active when she comes in when we put her on the point of that press.”
Not all their shots were falling in the third quarter, scoring seven points while holding Webster County to nine. Brooklyn Clark scored six of those nine points to help cut the Lady Marshals lead down to eight heading into the fourth frame.
Jada Driver opened the fourth with two straight from behind the arc for a 41-27 lead. They went on to score 10 while holding the Lady Trojans to just two.
“We just didn’t have that focus and that energy we needed to have every possession”, Beth said. “We weren’t playing with urgency. We were playing like we know we’re going to come back and win, just going through the motions…you can’t do that. Today was a perfect example…they had it cut to six points there in the second half and it was a basketball game.”
Beth said he feels they are not close to as good as they can play which is very encouraging, especially after winning 15 in a row – that there is still an upside out there down the stretch to tournament time which he said, “we’re building to that”.
Now 15-1 and enjoying a 15-game win streak, when asked if it’s anything the team thinks about, Beth said. “We’re proud of it and proud of the rankings, but if we’re ranked first or fifth, it’s not going to make any difference when we go play. You’ve still got to play defense, you gotta rebound and make shots to win basketball games.”
Beth said they expect to win now which is a mindset he is happy with adding, “Now that we’ve played all these different teams and we have won 15 in a row, I really feel like on any given night we can beat anybody we play. I think they’re starting to believe that too.”
Driver led with 13 points including three 3-pointers, Galloway scored 12 and Pea added nine on three from beyond the arc. Clark led Webster County with eight points.
Up next for the Lady Marshals is a trip to Henderson County (8-1) on Tuesday followed by a trip to McLean County (8-3) on Saturday.
Webster 8 10 9 2 – 29
Marshall 6 22 7 10 – 45
Webster: Clark 8, Price 6, McDyer 5, Cates 5, Hinton 3, Rakestraw 2
Marshall: Driver 13, Galloway 12, Pea 9, Conner 7, Langhi 4
