Patriots put pressure on Marietta Tigers, fall 46-44
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MARIETTA -- In order to keep its perfect record intact, the Marietta girls had to hold their collective breath as Parkersburg South nearly rallied from a 14-point, fourth quarter deficit Thursday night at Sutton Gymnasium.
After the Tigers missed the front-end of a one-and-one with 7.9 seconds remaining and Marietta nursing a two-point lead, South got the ball in the hands of Brooke Sandy at the other end of the court. Sandy drove in the lane, but her game-tying attempt was met by several defenders and her shot fell short of the mark as time expired.
The 46-44 win upped Marietta's record to 5-0, while South (2-1) suffered its first loss.
"On that final play, I was thinking don't call a foul on us," Marietta coach Ryan McClain. "Keep the whistle in your mouth."
McClain touched on every possible player who stepped on the floor as part of a 'complete' team effort. With three sophomores in the starting lineup, it was the remaining two starters from the senior class who paced the scoring. Riley Medley led the Tigers with 11 points, while Rylee Kendall set the tone from the outset, scoring the team's first six points as part of her 10-point effort.
"Everyone chipped in tonight," McClain continued. "It took nine girls to come out and get that win. Our motto this year is 'together' -- we are not going to harp on one player to do everything. We'll come together and get these wins.
"It might not be pretty, but we are gritty."
South nearly recovered from two major deficits in the second half. Down 21-20 at halftime, the Patriots were on the wrong end of a 12-0 Marietta run to open the third quarter. Jacey McKnight and Alyssa Baker both knocked a 3-pointer during that 4 1/2 stretch.
Point guard Carley Schaffer then put South on her shoulders, scoring the final six points of an 8-0 run to slice the deficit to within five at 33-28.
A five-point Marietta spurt to close the third quarter was followed by another four straight points at the start of the final period and left South trailing 42-28.
Marietta managed just one make the rest of the game as South's pressure started to wear on the Tigers. In the fourth quarter alone, Marietta turned the ball over seven times compared to a mere six over the first three quarters.
Had Sandy's bucket found the bottom of the net, South would have played a second overtime game in the span two days.
"I can't fault the kids," South coach Ed Davis said, "We got a really good look at the end of the game. You just can't put yourself in that kind of situation against a good team. Marietta deserved to win. They played better than us for the vast majority of the game.
"Marietta did what they needed to do for three-plus quarters then we finally played with some zip down the stretch. The schedule we play is difficult. You can pull out these games once in a while but if this is how you try to live, the law of averages will catch up with you. We pulled one out Tuesday (at Hurricane), pulled one out against Mercer County (Ky.), but we didn't tonight. We can't keep leaving it up to these situations."
Gracie Shamblin accounted for South's only two 3-pointers and scored a game-high 15 pointers before fouling out with 58 seconds remaining in regulation. Freshman starter Lucie Cline saw minimal playing time due to an injured shoulder, but her classmate Shyanne Hays came off the bench to to pitch in seven points.
"For about 3 1/2 quarters we were very patient on offense then South sped us up a little bit," McClain said. "Our two big leaders (Medley and Leigha Lauer) both fouled out, but it was next man up.
"Rylee Kendall has been reborn since Tri-Valley. She anchored us at Tri-Valley and she anchored us tonight. I want to give credit to my father-in-law, who coaches at John Glenn. He said, back in eighth grade Rylee is the best player on either side of the court. Tell her to get back to that. Ever since I told her that, she has been a beast."