Marion Girls Basketball

Benton pounds Marion to stay perfect

David met Goliath on Tuesday night – but this time the giant won.

Undefeated Benton Community used its speed, size and silky shooting to dominate from the opening tipoff and trounce Marion, 57-27, on the Indians’ senior night.

The Benton Bobcats (20-0, 18-0) are ranked No. 1 in Class 3A and showed why.

“You hope on senior night playing the No. 1 team in the state, that’s going to give you a little extra motivation,” said Marion Coach Brian O’Donnell. “But I think Benton played like they had something to prove, and they proved why they’re ranked No. 1 in the state.”

The Bobcats scored the first eight points of the game and raced to a 22-8 advantage after one period. Meanwhile, the Indians couldn’t get a bucket to fall until nearly five minutes into the game.

Although the pace was less torrid after the opening quarter, the efficient Bobcats continued to overwhelm the Indians’ zone defense and disrupt them mercilessly on offense. They led 35-13 at the half and were up 43-17 after three periods.

“Benton did a good job in transition on us and that hurt us a lot tonight,” said O’Donnell. “They did a real good job of contesting a lot of our passing lanes, which turned into a lot of turnovers, and when they were on offense they moved the ball really well against our zone and did a real nice job of finding the soft spots in our zone. I thought the ball was moving faster than our defense.”

The Indians slowed the Bobcats in the second half, but could not get good looks and were ice cold from outside the arc, hitting a lone triple out of 17 attempts.

“Offensively it just felt like a lot of shots were forced tonight,” O’Donnell said. “I never felt like we were in a flow offensively. Defensively, I thought we had some good spurts when we were playing good team defense, but we just weren’t consistent, and that’s something we have to work on.”

Benton junior Madison Weekly, currently in fourth place among 3A players with a 18.8 scoring average, torched Marion for 15 first-half points. The Indians held her to two points in the second half and could take satisfaction in the fact that her game-high 17 points were exactly half as many as she scored when Benton walloped the Indians, 70-38, on Jan. 6.

The Bobcats enjoyed balanced offense as Becca Bridgewater scored 12 points and Kelsey Brecht hit 10 to join Weekly in double figures.

Marion’s scoring leader, senior Dani Peyton, played sparingly as she continues to recover from a concussion suffered two weeks ago when she collided with another player and hit her head on the bleachers.

Peyton said her team came out flat Tuesday night and never found its rhythm.

“It’s a long season and I think tonight we just didn’t show up mentally. The good thing about basketball is that you can come back the next day and fix it in practice,” she said.

On a disappointing senior night, the Indians were led by ninth grader Michalyn Mohr with eight points and seven rebounds.

Marion (12-8, 12-6) plays at Kennedy on Saturday.

BENTON (57): Jordyn Brunssen 0 0-0 0, Ashley Mills 0 1-2 1, Katrina Sindt 0 2-2 2, Madison Weekly 7 1-3 17, Jenna Roe 0 0-0 0, Becca Bridgewater 4 2-2 12, Beth Thompson 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Brecht 2 6-8 10, Alicia Gage 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Larsen 3 0-0 6, Elie Embray 0 4-6 4, Sara Petrzelka 1 1-2 3. Totals 18 17-25 57.

MARION (27): Allison Scott 1 0-0 2, Ashlin Korf 1 0-0 3, Jesse Kramer 1 0-2 2, Brooke Cole 0 0-0 0, Beth Knapp 0 0-0 0, Dani Peyton 0 2-2 2, Emi Banes 1 1-2 3, Alyssa Jones 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Deeney 0 0-0 0, Michalyn Mohr 4 0-0 8, Paige Perkins 1 3-4 5, Madi Redlinger 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 6-10 27.

Halftime- Benton 35, Marion 13. 3-point goals -- Marion 1 (Korf 1), Benton 4 (Weekly 2, Bridgewater 2).

Scroll down for Wamac girls standings

Wamac Conference standings are located at the bottom of this page. Please scroll to the bottom of the page to see them.

Banes paces Marion girls by Columbus

WATERLOO - Emi Banes scored 16 points Friday night and Alyssa Jones added 10 as the Marion Indians defeated Waterloo Columbus, 53-42, in a Wamac Conference basketball game in Waterloo.

Banes tossed in three 3-pointers to help the Indians (12-7, 12-5). Dani Peyton did not play for Marion.

Kate Letkewicz led Waterloo Columbus (3-16, 2-15) with 15 points.

MARION (53): Scott 6, Korf 3, Kramer 6, Cole 0, Knapp 4, Banes 16, Jones 10, Deeney 0, Mohr 6, Redlinger 0, Perkins 2.

WATERLOO COLUMBUS (42): McLaughlin 4, McManus 9, Strien 11, Letkewicz 15, Sullivan 2, Harn 1.

Marion girls falter in second half

The Marion High School girls basketball team scored only 10 points in the second half Tuesday night against Center Point-Urbana.

It was a recipe for defeat.

Center Point-Urbana rallied from a six-point halftime deficit and dumped the Indians, 53-40, in a Wamac Conference game at Marion.

The Indians led at halftime, 30-24, but Center Point-Urbana outscored them 29-10 in the third and fourth periods.

Beth Knapp led Marion (11-7, 11-5) with 13 points. Madie Wilkin topped Center Point-Urbana (11-6, 10-5) with 14 points and Jessica Wooldridge added 12.

CENTER POINT-URBANA (53): P. Wilkin 2, M. Wilkin 14, Twedt 4, Gauley 5, Wooldridge 12, Salow 9, Wilhemi 8.

MARION (40): Scott 2, Korf 0, Kramer 6, Cole 0, Knapp 13, Peyton 8, Banes 0, Jones 3, Deeney 0, Mohr 6, Redlinger 0, Perkins 0.

Halftime - Marion 30, Center Point-Urbana 24.