ROGERSVILLE, Mo. -- The magical run for the Marionville Lady Comets (21-10) continued on Saturday afternoon when they defeated the Crocker Lady Lions (24-6) 57-52 in overtime.
The Lady Comets got off to a slow start and trailed early 13-2. But the young Comets kept chipping away at the lead, and by half time were down 6, 29-23. Marionville made their comeback by holding Crocker to just ten 3rd quarter points. Marionville Freshman Josie Young scored 15 quarter points to take a 42-39 lead to start the 4th quarter.
"We just decided we didn't want to lose and I felt like I didn't play well in the 1st half," said Josie Young.
The 4th quarter was a struggle as both teams couldn't find the bottom of the net. Crocker held a 48-46 lead with 38 seconds to play, and Marionville was forced to foul Crocker' leading scorer for the game, Larra Kubinski, putting her on the free-throw line. Kubinski would miss both free-throws giving the Lady Comets a chance to tie the game.
With just 6.2 seconds to play, sophomore Whitney Wright grabbed an offensive rebound and scored tying game 48-48. Crocker failed to score at the buzzer and the game entered overtime.
Crocker's scoring woes continued into overtime as they would only make 4 free-throws and the Lady Comets would get buckets by Bailie Stine and Jaycie Dishman. The Lady Comets led 53-52 with 29 second left on the clock, when Wright shot two free-throws. She would make both, giving Marionville the lead 55-52.
Crocker had a shot to tie the game but a huge block by Stine with 16 seconds to go would give the Comets the ball. Dishman would make 2 free-throws to seal the game and the Lady Comets were Final Four Bound, 57-52.
"I think we've grown up a lot the last few games and we've learned to take care of the ball at the end of games," said Coach Ted Young. "I don't know if we are a 'Cinderella' but we are just trying to get better every game. I'm not sure what I feel like but I know I’m very happy and happy for the girls. We never dreamed this would happen. We just wanted to win a District and now we are definitely playing with house money."
Marionville will play New Haven in the Class 2 semi-finals on 3/15/2012 at 12:00 pm at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, MO.
Crocker scoring: Larra Kubinski-16, Meagan Wall-15, Sylvia Dittman-9, Brianna Peterson-9 and Jeanna Mendez-3
Marionville scoring: josie Young-21, Jaycie Dishman-14, Whitney Wright-8, Aubree Brown-8 and Baillie Stine-6
