by Ben Murphy
Sports Writer
Playing over at Manistee Catholic Central can certain be a challenge for visiting West Michigan ‘D’ League teams. The Marion girls basketball team played there on Wednesday, Dec. 21 and were able to escape with a victory, although just barely, 38-37.
“Winning (there) is a difficult task and this game was no different,” head coach Matt LaGrow said. “It was a back-and-forth game all night. Both teams would have liked to shoot the ball better than they did.”
The Eagles led 36-34 in the late stages of the contest, but MCC knocked down three pointer to pull ahead 37-36 with eight seconds to play. On Marion’s offensive end, Georgia Meyer was fouled, sending her to the free throw line with four seconds to go. She missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Haley Bear fought for the rebound, and sent the ball back through the net for what was a thrilling game-winner.
The Eagles trailed the game 14-13 after the first quarter and had slim leads of 22-20 and 30-28 after the other quarter breaks.
“Maddie Sutten had a really nice first quarter with solid shooting,” LaGrow said. “Jacelyn Moggo was very effective with her shots and played really good defense on one of their better shooters. We did a much better job playing solid defense without fouling so that was a step in the right direction.”
Moggo and Sutten finished with nine points apiece, Meyer added six points and tracked down 13 rebounds, Maddie Bell netted six points and Bear finished with five points.
Marion (5-2 overall, WMD) returns to action Jan. 4 when it heads over to Mason County Eastern.