Marion girls batter Rams

Lady Patriots romp in lopsided road win over Paragould, 51-15

By Chuck Livingston

Marion School District

PARAGOULD — The calendar reads late February, which is usually when Marion girls basketball coach Shunda Johnson’s team starts rounding into shape. This year is no different, just ask the Paragould Lady Rams. Needing to win out and get a little help in the form of a Paragould loss, Marion overwhelmed Paragould on Tuesday night, scoring the game’s first 15 points and adding on in a 51-15 victory at Doc Paynter Court.

The Lady Patriots forced 28 Lady Ram turnovers for the game, and Marion did not allow a field goal in the first or the fourth quarter.

Nine players scored for Marion (15-9 overall, 8-5 5A East), led by Jada Cheers’s 12 points and seven rebounds, 10 from Ayanna Hayes, and eight from Madison Glaspie.

Paragould (1-22, 0-13) got four points from Reese Rolleson, and three from Micah Rolleson.

Cheers started Marion off on the right foot by scoring the game’s first seven points including two layups and a stickback that she turned into a three-point play as the Lady Pats led 7-0 with 4:48 left in the first period.

Glaspie hit a layup followed by another Cheers hoop that gave Marion its first doubledigit lead (11-0), followed by baskets by Ny’Asia Jackson and Hayes for a 15-0 bulge, and the visitors led 15-2 after the first quarter.

Paragould hit its first field goal of the game when Alajyah Lunny hit a short jumper that got the Lady Rams within

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22-5 with 3:16 left in the second quarter, but Marion closed out the first half on an 8-0 run, including six straight from Glaspie, for a 30-5 halftime advantage.

Paragould was just one of nine shooting in the first half with 21 turnovers.

Marion’s lead hit 30 points (35-5) when Jackson hit a free throw with 5:16 left in the third quarter, and the Lady Pats led 43-15 after three quarters.

The Lady Pats scored the fourth quarter’s only eight points, forcing the Lady Rams to miss all eight field goals to clinch victory.

The Marion fourth-quarter barrage started with four straight Amilyah Buchanan points, a Taniyah Bailey jump shot, and a Hayes runner to account for the scoring.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Marion hosts Valley View on Friday night for Senior Night. Marion’s three senior girls basketball players and five senior boys basketball players will be honored following the varsity girls game, which tips off at 6:00 p.m., and before the boys contest, which will usually tip around 7:30. Both varsity basketball games and Senior Night festivities will be broadcast live on Marion-Patriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel.

FEB. 20 5A EAST RESULTS

Marion 51, Paragould 15 Searcy 53, Batesville 46 W. Memphis 53, Greene Co.

Tech 29 Nettleton 70, Valley View 46

5A EAST STANDINGS

Top four teams make the state tournament Greene Co. Tech 11-2 Searcy 10-3 West Memphis 9-4 Nettleton 8-5* Marion 8-5* Batesville 3-10 Valley View 3-10 Paragould 0-13 *Nettleton owns tiebreaker against Marion

5A EAST GAMES ON 2/23

Valley View at Marion Greene Co. Tech at Paragould Batesville at West Memphis Nettleton at Searcy