With a familiar face on the sidelines as Interim Coach, the Lady Marshals took to the court Friday night and got to the business at hand, defeating Henderson County 58-53. Led by Cayson Conner with 18 points, joined by two teammates in double-figures – Layne Pea with 17 and Halle Langhi with 11 – the Lady Marshals responded to everything the reigning Region Two champions gave them, including a 27 point game from senior Emilee Hope.
“I’m just so impressed with this basketball team”, Interim Head Coach Aaron Beth said in post-game comments to WCBL’s Jeff Waters. “You have to give them a lot of credit for overcoming the adversity they faced the last couple of days, but you have to give Dan a lot of credit for having them prepared to deal with what they did.”
Henderson County led 12-9 at the end of the first quarter, five points coming from Hope while Conner had five for the Lady Marshals. Jada Driver scored to close the Lady Colonels lead to one point to start the second quarter and continued to keep it within four points of Henderson County before tying at 19-19 following baskets by Conner and Driver.
Driver was fouled and hit both of her one and one to give the Lady Marshals a 21-19 lead with 2:38 remaining in the second quarter. Pea followed that up with a basket, drawing the foul and converting the free throw, to give them a 24-19 lead that was quickly cut back to two at halftime on a 3-pointer by Hope.
Hope tied the game at 24 with free throws to open the third quarter before baskets by Langhi, Conner and Pea and a free throw by Langhi gave the Lady Marshals their largest lead of seven points. Henderson County responded with a 7-0 run to tie the game again at 31-31 and went on to lead 37-34 going into the fourth quarter.
Conner began the fourth quarter with a basket, drawing the foul to tie 37-37 and they took a 39-37 lead on free throws by Driver. A three from Hope swung the lead back in favor of Henderson County but the Lady Marshals came back with a three from Pea to lead 42-40. Langhi made it a four point lead, scoring under the goal on a nice pass from Conner but it was cut back to two again on free throws by Sadie Wurth with 3:54 to go.
With 2:33 on the clock, Presley Jezik’s free throw put the Lady Marshals up by three but a turnover led to a basket by Wurth to cut the lead back to one point with 1:37 to go. Free throws in the closing minute by Conner with three and two each by Jezik and Pea led to a 56-50 lead with 31 seconds remaining. Hope’s clutch three for Henderson County cut the lead down to three points but a final basket by Langhi sealed the win.
“I coached hard tonight but the kids responded…they defended…they played as hard as they could possibly play to overcome them coming back and taking a lead”, Beth said, adding that he will do the best job he can during his time as Interim Coach to help the team be as successful as they can and he felt they set that bar high with the win over Henderson County.
Henderson County 12 22 37 53
Marshall County 9 24 34 58
Henderson County: Emilee Hope 27, Graci Risley 7, Sadie Wurth 6, Jarie Thomas 4, Lauren Hubbard 4, Jocelyn Spaulding 3, Careese Toombs 2
Marshall County: Cayson Conner 18, Layne Pea 17, Halle Langhi 11, Jada Driver 8, Presley Jezik 4
Henderson County: FG 19/53, 3 Pt 6/18, FT 9/17, Reb 23
Marshall County: FG 17/35, 3 Pt 2/5, FT 22/33, Reb 30
