Sports
Lady Marauders Spoil Athens Senior Night
By: Nick Henthorn
Posted on:
Athens’ Laura Manderick and Meigs’ Kassidy Betzing both joined esteemed air this season, scoring 1,000 points in their high school careers. Both score from all areas of the court, serving as one-woman wrecking crews for their teams. Monday’s contest between the Lady Bulldogs (7-14, 1-6 TVC-Ohio) and Lady Marauders (13-8, 4-3), though, was not won by heroic efforts from either respective star. Instead, the entire Meigs team collectively carried the load in their team’s 69-44 victory.
Athens thanked their outgoing seniors before, during, and after the game, as the trio of Kaylee Stewart, Lilly Mills, and Emma Harter enjoyed Senior Night in McAfee Gymnasium. Stewart talked about her time as a Lady Bulldog after the game.
“[Emma Harter]’s my best friend, I’ve been playing with her since the fourth grade, and I’ve been playing with Lilly [Mills] since 6th grade,” Stewart said. “So it’s kind of sad I guess you could say, but I’m glad I got the chance to play with all of them.”
Stewart led her team in scoring on the game with nine points, and Meigs would be led by Betzing with 19. Betzing was one of four Marauders to reach double figures, as the entire team couldn’t miss from behind the line, canning 43 percent of their deep balls. Meigs worked to find open shots from outside all night long, turning down good shots for great ones and constantly moving the ball.
Marissa Noble and Becca Pullins were prime beneficiaries of their team’s unselfish play, combining for eight triples for the Lady Marauders.
“[Pullins] and then [Noble], when we have our wings where they get down there and our guards actually find them, we made the extra pass, they caught the ball in rhythm and its nice to see [Pullins] hit some shots,” Meigs head coach Jarrod Kasun said. “[Pullins has] been struggling with her health this year, her and Marissa Noble really picked it up in the first half, and then we sort of cruised it in the second half.”
Mallory Hawley continued to be a force off the bench for Meigs, scoring on her first possession in the game and finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks.
Defensively, the Lady Marauders were able to keep Athens at bay by blitzing the pick-and-roll, trapping the ball handler and forcing off-balanced passes. The Lady Bulldogs tried to punish Meigs’ high-risk scheme with quick passes out of the trap, but Meigs was quicker, causing mayhem in the passing lanes and getting out on the fastbreak. The Lady Marauders asserted themselves defensively from the game’s first minutes, holding Athens to five points in the first quarter.
Meigs has one game left on the regular-season docket, a road game against the Wellston Lady Golden Rockets on Thursday. For Athens, they’ll wrap up their season on the road Thursday as well against the River Valley Lady Raiders.