It's been their bugaboo all season.

The Marion girls fell way behind Maquoketa at home Tuesday night, played catch-up the rest of the way and never could get over the hump.

Scoring on free throws at the end, Maquoketa won, 54-42, ending a six-game losing skid and stopping Marion's win streak at one.

“I don't know, we always seem to start slow,” said Indians junior center Michalyn Mohr, one of only two experienced players on a very young Marion squad. “We dig ourselves into a hole. Then we have to fight back the whole game.”

With just two baskets in the first quarter, Marion (3-10, 3-7 Wamac) trailed 11-4.

“Somehow, we need to get more pumped up before the games start,” said junior point guard Amanda Sahm, the other veteran. “We have to do more talking, or something.”

There was just 3:40 left in the first half until anyone but Mohr scored a point and by that time it was 21-10.

The first field goal by anyone but Mohr came with 30 seconds to go in the half when Jozee Peyton nailed a 3-pointer.

“There was a lid on the basket for all of us,” Sahm said. “The shots were there. But we need to have more confidence.

“We have to want to score. And we have to create on offense.”

Turnovers also hurt, as the Indians threw the ball away 13 times in the first half.

They came out with much more fire after the intermission. Marion was markedly more aggressive on defense, which seemed to boost the offensive intesity, as well.

“We picked up the tempo, no question,” said Marion Coach Corby Laube. “With just 15 points in the half and being behind so much, we had to take some chances on defense.

“We needed to try something different and try to disrupt their game.”

It worked, too.

Indians sophomore Tessa Jordan scored eight quick points, including two 3-pointers, to cut the Cardinals' lead to 28-23 early in the third quarter.

“Coach told us to concentrate on defense," Sahm said. “And that gave us some spark.”

Sahm drove for a pair of buckets late in the quarter, but a 3-pointer by Maquoketa's Demi Crist put her team back up by nine.

After Mohr and Sahm each drained two free throws to open the fourth quarter, Mohr scored a layup on a feed from sophomore Holli Jones to again cut the deficit to five.

As before, however, a 3-pointer by the Cardinals' Taylor Bickford snuffed the comeback.

“They made shots when they needed to,” Laube said. “When we'd get a run, they'd hit a big one.”

Forced to foul down the stretch, the Indians hurt themselves by failing on three occasions to rebound missed Maquoketa (4-8, 4-6) free throws.

Laube, though, felt the game was lost in the first 16 minutes.

“We started out terrible and could not put the ball in the hole,” he said. “We just put oursleves in too deep of a hole.”

Mohr led Marion with 16 points, while Jordan had 11 and Sahm 10.

MAQUOKETA (54): Taylor Bickford 5 0-0 12, Amy Wirth 0 0-0 0, Demi Crist 1 1-2 4, Allison Vandemore 4 0-0 8, Chiara Atienza 6 5-6 17, Kailie Hazer 1 1-2 3, Aubrey Taylor 2 1-3 5, Kaleena Wilkins 1 0-0 2, Liz Gavin 0 0-0 0, Bailey Lenz 1 1-1 3. Totals 21 9-14 54.

MARION (42): Jozee Peyton 1 0-0 3, Amanda Sahm 3 4-6 10, Holli Jones 0 0-0 0, Tessa Jordan 4 0-0 11, Michalyn Mohr 6 4-5 16, Dani Dunne 0 0-0 0, Bayley Fuller 0 2-2 2, Marissa Whitney 0 0-0 0, Olivia Frazier 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 10-13 42.

Halftime – Maquoketa 28, Marion 15. 3-point goals – Maquoketa 3 (Bickford 1, Crist 1), Marion 4 (Jordan 3, Peyton 1).