Marysville senior Emily Daniel drives to the basket against Dublin Scioto on Saturday. The Lady Monarchs’ season ended with a loss in the Division I tournament game.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Tim Miller)
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There have been times during the 2018-19 basketball season that the Marysville girls team has struggled with two key components of the game.
Those factors have been rebounding and shooting.
At times, the Lady Monarchs have succeeded in those fundamental ventures and on other occasions, they haven’t.
The problems on the boards and finding the net reared their ugly heads Saturday afternoon during a 59-37 loss at Dublin Scioto.
The setback during the Division I tournament game ended MHS’ season with a 10-13 record.
“Rebounding and offensive presence were the differences in the game,” said Marysville head coach Brooke Young. “We’ve struggled at times with both this year and this game was an example of that.”
The Lady Monarchs got off to a very slow start as the Irish tallied the first 10 points.
“We didn’t start the game very strong,” said Young. “We just sort of rolled into it.”
Scioto took its 10-point spread when Ashleigh Rothe knocked down a three-pointer.
Nearly six minutes elapsed before Haley Cook’s jumper gave MHS its first points.
Sydney Lee buried a trifecta to cut Marysville’s lead in half at 10-5.
An old-school three-point play by Lauren Erickson, however, sent Scioto into the second quarter with a 15-5 lead.
Emily Daniel assisted on a bucket by Kassidy Lee and Caitlin Cotner hit a jumper as MHS pulled to within 15-9 early in the ensuing period.
Scioto, though, went on an 8-0 run, thanks to a couple of second and third-shot efforts on the boards, and climbed to a 23-9 lead on a basket from FD Olujide.
Tinley Graves broke the Lady Monarchs’ dry spell with a basket and finally put the local team in double-digit scoring.
Logan Brown drilled back-to-back three-pointers and Cotner converted a steal into a layup that pulled Marysville to within 24-19 at halftime.
The Lady Monarchs played solid pressure defense during the first half and forced a number of Irish miscues.
MHS, however, had trouble converting a number of those Scioto turnovers into much-needed points.
Daniel dished an assist to Cook early in the third stanza as MHS’ deficit fell to 24-21.
Both teams struggled to maintain possession of the ball, but a basket from Kassidy Lee narrowed Marysville’s gap to 27-23.
The Irish took advantage of several empty Monarch possessions and went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes.
By the time Sydney Lee scored Marysville’s next points, the visitors were looking at a 37-25 deficit.
Action continued to be ragged as both squads took turns being more than generous and giving up possession of the ball.
The Lady Monarchs’ rebounding problems continued to give the Irish second and third shot opportunities.
Scioto took advantage and jumped out to a 43-27 advantage by the end of the third quarter.
From that point on, Marysville was forced to play catch-up. That was problematic as the turnovers and errant shot offerings continued to mount.
Stats from the free-throw line also didn’t help.
The Irish visited the stripe 16 times and made eight.
The Lady Monarchs shot only three foul shots and connected on two.
Scioto grabbed a 49-29 lead when Dalma Kiss scored with 4:20 left in the game.
The Irish were pretty much on cruise control for the remainder of the contest.
Although disappointed with the season-ending setback, Young wanted to highlight what she felt were positive takes from the game.
“The girls never stopped fighting and they made me proud to be a Monarch,” she said. “We have to work on developing consistency at this point, but I think we’ve got a good starting point for next year.
“All of our seniors did a great job, but we’ve got some key players coming back next year.”
Dublin Scioto
Erickson 5-0-13, Hutras 4-4-13, K. Rothe 5-1-11 A. Rothe 3-0-7, Fo. Olujide-Auibade 1-2-4, FD Olujide-Ajibade 2-0-4, Davis 1-1-3, Jordan 1-0-2, Kiss 1-0-2, Schwab 0-0-0, Birko 0-0-0. Totals 23-8-59.
Three-point goals: Erickson 3, Hutras 1, A. Rothe 1.
Marysville
S. Lee 5-0-11, Brown 4-0-10, Cook 2-0-4, Cotner 2-0-4, K. Lee 2-0-4, Daniel 0-2-2, Graves 1-0-2, Welsh 0-0-0, Francisco 0-0-0, Sutter 0-0-0, Sloan 0-0-0. Totals 16-2-37.
Three-point goals: Brown 2, S. Lee 1.