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Girls basketball: Easley done: Guard leads Marcus to third in Mansfield
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
Facing three state-ranked teams, Marcus' girls basketball team had its work cut out for themselves as they headed to Mansfield for the Rotary Invitational.
But even an early injury to a key player couldn't derail the Lady Marauders, who went on to finish third.
Marcus amassed a 4-1 record in the tournament, picking up wins against Ursuline (64-25), Mansfield (63-33) and Arlington Bowie (45-35) before falling in the semifinals against Mansfield Timberview (59-48). The Lady Marauders rebounded to take third by defeating Cibolo Steele (63-48).
"We learned a lot about ourselves," said Fred Jones, Marcus head coach. "We played our last three games with Ashley (James) out with a sprained ankle. That's always a challenge, especially in a tournament where we are facing some talented teams. But we did a really good job of shuffling kids around and adjusting."
Sierra Bone had the biggest change, moving from her sixth man role to starting point guard.
"She was unbelievable," Jones said. "She came right in and got in a groove despite going against some good guards. She had 19 points and six assists to lead us to the win against Cibolo Steele."
James (10 points) was healthy for the start of the tourney and was one of three Lady Marauders in double figures in the win over Ursuline joining Morgan Easley (12) and Jenna Davis (11). Marcus cruised to a 16-4 lead after the first quarter and closed the game with a 12-2 spurt in the fourth.
Marcus marched in the second round as well, defeating Mansfield behind 18 points from Vanessa Jones. Easley and Taylor Roof chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Against Bowie, the Lady Marauders started and finished strong. Marcus led early, 10-2, and closed with a 17-7 run in the fourth.
Easley and Bone scored 14 and 11, respectively, for Marcus, while the Lady Marauders limited Bowie's Ashley Ferguson to five points.
"[Ferguson] had been averaging 22 points per game," Jones said. "But Taylor did an unbelievable job of guarding her and slowing her down. She played great defense all weekend against some big-time posts."
Marcus' stingy defense continued in the semifinals for three quarters as the Lady Marauders trailed Timberview entering the fourth, 33-30. However, the Lady Wolves posted 26 points in the fourth to secure the win.
"Not having Ashley really hurt against Timberview," Jones said. "Sierra did a good job, but they have a very talented point that was tough to guard. They did some things in the fourth quarter to expose us. And it's just a little tougher to get the offense going without our usual point guard."
Easley followed Bone's 19 points with 17 of her own en route to being selected to the all-tournament team, averaging 17 points over the five games.
"Morgan and Sierra did a great job offensively," Jones said. "And we really played well on defense the whole tournament except for the fourth quarter against Timberview. Steele had been averaging about 60 points per game and we held them to 48. I was very pleased."
Marcus opened District 5-5A competition Friday with a win against Denton Ryan, 35-30. Alex Lapeyrolerie paced the squad with 10 points.
Boys basketball: Marauders find mixed results
Marcus' boys basketball team was also in tournament action during the holiday break as the Marauders went 2-2 Dec. 27-29 at the Plano Wildcat Holiday Classic.
The squad picked up wins over North Mesquite (34-32) and Southeast Oklahoma City (80-76) but dropped contests against Jesuit (53-51) and Frisco Heritage (52-38).
Against Jesuit, Marcus was able to overcome an eight-point deficit at halftime but eventually fell in double overtime. Aaron Steele led the squad with 15 points, while Michael Mayhew scored 14 and Jack Holden posted 10.
Mayhew led the way with 10 points against North Mesquite as the Marauders closed with a 22-8 run in the fourth to secure the win. Holden and Michael Wheeler scored 22 and 19, respectively, in the overtime win against Southeast Oklahoma City and Holden also recorded a team-high 11 points in the loss to Heritage.
Marcus continues at 7:30 p.m. Monday at Plano Senior.
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