Marietta’s Jacey McKnight (12) drives with the ball as Sheridan’s Addi Shaeffer (4) defends during Saturday’s district tournament game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

MARIETTA — Five days ago, Marietta High was on the verge of completing a perfect regular season.

Fast-forward to Saturday afternoon’s district quarterfinal, when the Tigers had their 2024-25 campaign come to a heart-breaking end.

Payton Powell’s steal and three-point play with four seconds left gave visiting Sheridan a 51-49 lead at Sutton Gym. Just inside the half-court line, Kendall VanderWal took a desperation shot at the buzzer, and while it looked like it had a chance to fall, it was just off the mark, giving the Generals the win and leaving the Tigers crushed.

“It’s on me,” said Marietta head coach Ryan McClain. “It’s tough. The girls still had a hell of a season and I’m proud of them. Can’t take away from what they’ve done. They’ve done a really good job.”

Marietta ends its season with a 20-2 record, dropping its final two games after a 20-0 start, and graduates three seniors in Leigha Lauer, Alyssa Baker and Jacey McKnight.

Marietta’s Alyssa Baker (1) looks to pass during Saturday’s district tournament game against Sheridan at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

MHS took a 49-48 lead with 43 seconds left on Braxtyn Kroft’s layup. After Sheridan missed a 3-pointer on the other end, VanderWal secured the rebound.

McKnight ended up with the ball and hustled to get it across half-court before a 10-second call, but had it jarred loose by Powell, who scooped it up and went up for a layup. She got it to fall and drew a foul, sinking the free throw to put Sheridan up two.

On the turnover, McKnight had to battle through contact. The Tiger fans in attendance wanted a whistle, but didn’t get one.

“If I was in the NFL I’d probably get fined,” McClain said, alluding to the NFL’s policy on criticizing officials. “It’s really tough to see people that aren’t supposed to affect the game, affect the game.

“But, we can’t get down 10. It’s on us. We didn’t do the stuff we practiced for two days — but man, it’s an uphill climb when I see my kid get smashed between two kids when they were pressing us, and then they get an and-1 on the same play.”

A slow start to the game came back to haunt the Tigers, who went 1 for 9 from the floor and had five turnovers in the first quarter. Still, Marietta only trailed 8-4 after eight minutes.

The Generals were on top 17-13 with 1:28 left in the second. They had missed their first nine attempts from beyond the arc, but Halle Warner and Lainey Miller each knocked down a 3 in the final minute of the second to make it 23-13 at halftime.

Warner scored a game-high 18 points while Miller gave the Generals 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.

“Real big shoutout to our post player Lainey Miller,” said Sheridan head coach J.D. Walters, whose team plays Unioto in Wednesday’s district semifinal at Logan. “For her to have 10 points when she normally scores about three a game — she played tremendous off the bench.”

Marietta trimmed the deficit to seven, 39-32, by the start of the fourth. A pair of baskets by Lauer plus a three-point play by McKnight were part of a 7-0 run to open the final period, tying the game at 39-all at the 6:15 mark.

Warner’s bucket with 3:07 left put SHS up three, but back-to-back hoops by McKnight and VanderWal put Marietta up 47-46 with 1:28 on the clock.

Ava Heller, who had nine points for Sheridan, answered with a basket on the other end, but Alyssa Baker made a nice pass to a wide open Kroft under the basket to give the Tigers their final lead.

“Payton Powell just made a huge play,” Walters said of the deciding sequence at the end. “Our defense has always been what we’ve leaned on. Our ball pressure is kind of a thing that we’re best at. When we were full-court pressing, we knew we had a chance to get a turnover. We told them to go for a turnover instead of a foul there late, because they’re such a good shooting team. They were getting close to a 10-second call and we just kind of trapped them, and Payton made a heck of a finish.”

After going 5 for 19 from the floor in the first half, Marietta went 15 for 24 in the second half to finish 20 for 43 (46.5%). Lauer, McKnight and Kroft scored 13 points apiece.

“The biggest thing is they can flat out shoot the ball,” Walters said of matching up with Marietta. “We knew we needed to stay out on their shooters. First half, we pressured them so well. Second half, we started getting a little tired and they started getting it inside on us. Then the momentum shifted.”

Sheridan (19-5) was able to withstand the Tigers’ rally, thanks in part to Powell, who Walters has nicknamed “Playoff P” due to her postseason excellence throughout her career. She finished with 12 points and eight boards.

“She doesn’t score a whole lot during the regular season,” Walters said, “but in the postseason now she’s had double figures in both games for us.”

It was a tough matchup so early in the tournament for two teams who had phenomenal regular seasons.

“If they’re going to combine the districts between East and Southeast, they should put all the teams together and let us play based on our MaxPreps rankings or whatever,” Walters said of the current tournament format. “For (Marietta) to have an undefeated regular season until the last game, to then have to face a team that was in the regional finals last year, that’s really tough.”

McClain agreed and added, “With five teams in our district, we should’ve been combined with the East.

“But, you’re going to have to beat (Sheridan) at some point. Whether it’s the first game or the last game, you’re going to have to beat them. I can’t make any complaints there. It’s just two really good teams that went at it and battled. It just sucks that we didn’t come out on top. They played their butts off, which I always expect out of them and they’ve never had an issue. I appreciate them and I appreciate their effort. I’m going to miss the three seniors.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.