Haley Cook (3) of Marysville flips the ball toward the basket on Saturday at Delaware Hayes. Also pictured for MHS is Karleigh Sutter (35). The Lady Monarchs won their first post-season game in six years with a 60-42 victory. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Winning a post-season game on the road is never an easy task in any sport.
The key to finding that type of success is getting out to a quick start and limiting the number of mistakes you make.
The Marysville High School girls basketball squad worked that game plan well Saturday afternoon at Delaware Hayes.
The 29th-seeded Lady Monarchs (11-11) played perhaps their best half of the season en route to a 60-42 Division I tournament victory over the No. 18 Lady Pacers.
It was MHS’ first post-season girls basketball victory in six years.
“We knew it was going to be important to get out to a strong start,” said MHS head coach Brooke Young. “We call it ‘starting hot.’
“It was a 1 p.m. starting time without a game before us,” she said. “In those situations, you worry about starting out sluggish.
“We knew we couldn’t afford to do that.”
Junior sharpshooter Tinley Graves made sure that wasn’t going to happen.
She drained a pair of early trifectas that staked the Lady Monarchs to an 8-5 lead and gave them the spark they needed.
MHS went into the contest greatly outsized, as the Pacers’ roster sports four players who tower at or above 6-0.
Jordan Lantz is a 6-4 post player who really could have hurt Marysville.
MHS’ defense, however, limited her to just 10 points.
“We knew that Lantz and Alexis Amabile are very good players,” said Young. “We had to work hard on them.”
Amabile was held to just 12 points by a swarming Lady Monarch defense.
Amabile swished a three-pointer that narrowed Marysville’s lead to 12-10 with a little more than three minutes left in the opening period.
Karleigh Sutter, however, gave MHS a bit of breathing room with a jumper and a pair of free throws for a 16-10 margin.
Lantz scored twice in the low block and Amabile went to the hoop in transition to knot the score at 16-all with 1:23 left in the stanza.
Haley Cook, however, returned the lead to the Lady Monarchs.
She scored on an offensive rebound and drew a foul. Her charity toss gave MHS a 19-16 edge with 42.1 seconds on the timer.
A pair of empty possessions by the Pacers led to baskets from Sydney Lee that sent Marysville into the ensuing quarter with a 23-16 advantage.
The Lady Monarchs’ offense continued to click well.
Caitlin Cotner, left, of MHS, saves the ball from going out of bounds against Delaware Hayes on Saturday. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
Caitlin Cotner dropped in a basket and Graves tripled in another shot as MHS expanded its upper hand to 28-18.
Marysville scooped up loose balls on the next few Pacer possessions to keep the Hayes offense at bay.
It took nearly three minutes for Delaware to get back on the scoreboard with a three-ball by Katie Smith.
Graves grabbed another Pacer turnover and sped coast-to-coast for a transition lay-up.
Leah Brown followed with a trifecta and all of the sudden, Marysville held a 33-21 margin.
Kass Lee sent a pair of charity tosses through the net, but Lantz scored on a stickback, pulling the Pacers to within 35-25 at the half.
Lantz muscled up a shot early in the third set to slice Hayes’ deficit to 37-30.
Just when it appeared momentum was swinging toward the home team, Graves once again rode to the rescue.
She bombed in a pair of trifectas that stretched the Lady Monarchs’ lead to 43-31
Baskets by Amabile, Alyssa Griner and Karli Theis closed the Pacers to within 45-41with 60 seconds remaining in the quarter.
Cook, however, hit a southpaw jumper in the lane.
In doing so, she sent MHS into the final quarter with a 47-41 advantage.
It took more than two minutes for anyone to put points on the board during the fourth set.
Both squads swapped empty possessions until Cook hit a runner in the lane for a 49-41 Monarch margin.
Sutter opened the spread even further when she flipped in a three-pointer from the right side of the bucket.
Kass Lee scored on the offensive glass and older sister Sydney followed with a pair of free throws that pushed MHS out to a 55-42 lead.
The final exclamation point was basically added with three minutes on the clock.
That’s when Cotner’s trifecta pushed the Lady Monarchs out to a 59-42 lead.
Hayes couldn’t do much against MHS’ defense and the Lady Monarchs began bleeding the clock.
The Pacers were, in turn, forced to foul to regain possession.
Cook sank a free throw with 1:16 left for the final point of the game.
Delaware committed a turnover and Young cleared her bench as possession returned to the visitors.
The Lady Monarchs then ran out the clock for the victory.
Young said there were several things she liked about her squad’s performance.
“Even though Delaware Hayes is a much bigger team, I think we rebounded well,” she said. ”We have to get in position to get rebounds.
“We can jump, so when we’re in the right position, we can get the ball.”
The Lady Monarchs will now advance to play at No. 10-seeded Hilliard Bradley.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.
Young said her team will have to come out with the same type of intensity against a Jaguar squad that topped MHS, 39-26, during the opening game of the season on Nov. 22.
Marysville
Graves 6-0-17, Cook 3-6-12, S. Lee 3-2-8, K. Lee 3-2-8, Sutter 2-2-7, Cotner 2-0-5, Brown 1-0-3, Hazelbaker 0-0-0, Olson 0-0-0, Sloan 0-0-0, Williams 0-0-0, Strahm 0-0-0. Totals 19-12-60.
Three-point goals: Graves 5, Sutter 1, Cotner 1, Brown 1.
Delaware Hayes
Amabile 3-5-12, Lantz 5-0-10, Jeffers 3-0-7, Smith 2-0-6, Griner 2-1-5, Theis 1-0-2, Midura 0-0-0, Hassan 0-0-0, Byers 0-0-0, Barickman 0-0-0. Totals 16-6-42.
Three-point goals: Smith 2, Amabile 1, Jeffers 1.
Tinley Graves (11) buries a three-pointer against Delaware Hayes. Graves led MHS with 17 points. (Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)