Marion Girls Basketball

Prairie girls hold off Marion

Tight defense and excellent free-throw shooting can win a lot of basketball games at any level of the sport

The Cedar Rapids Prairie girls proved it Saturday afternoon.

The Hawks put the clamps on Marion star Chloe Rice and sank 23 of 25 free throws for a 56-49 victory over the Indians at the Prairie gym.

Rice, a 5-foot-10 sophomore who is being recruited by Division I schools, struggled the entire game and did not make a field goal until she banked in a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to finish with five points.

Meanwhile, Prairie marched to the foul line and hit an incredible 92 percent of its free throws to help stave off a furious rally by Marion in the fourth quarter.

Caitlyn Smith of Marion drained four 3-pointers during an incredible two-minute stretch in the fourth quarter as the Indians chopped a 15-point deficit to just three points at 45-42, but the Hawks regrouped and pulled away again.

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No. 4 Marion girls dump Solon

SOLON - Caitlyn Smith popped in three 3-pointers and scored 14 points Friday night as the fourth-ranked Marion Indians rolled past Solon, 66-27, in a Wamac Conference game in Solon.

The Indians (2-0) cruised to a 45-15 lead at halftime.

Maddie Knapp also hit three triples for Marion and scored nine points in a balanced attack. The Indians made eleven 3-pointers in the contest.

Dakota Doyle scored 11 points for Solon (1-2).

MARION (66): Redmond 1 0-0 3, Knapp 3 0-0 9, Rice 3 0-0 7, Smith 4 3-3 14, Wright 0 0-1 0, Cannoy 0 0-0 0, Dunne 1 0-0 3, Laube 2 2-6 6, Willette 1 4-6 6, Herold 2 2-3 7, Nielsen 0 0-0 0, Beik 0 0-0 0, Sade 2 4-4 8, Jordan 1 0-0 3. Totals 20 15-23 66.

SOLON (27): Prybil 1 0-0 2, Shelman 0 0-0 0, Ryan 0 0-0 0, Hinkel 0 0-2 0, Oberthien 1 1-2 4, Doyle 3 3-6 11, Bluder 2 5-7 9, Lawson 0 1-2 1, Smith 0 0-0 0, Durr 0 0-2 0. Totals 7 10-21 27.

Halftime - Marion 45, Solon 15. 3-point goals - Marion 11 (Knapp 3, Smith 3, Redmond 1, Rice 1, Dunne 1, Herold 1, Jordan 1), Solon 3 (Doyle 2, Oberthien 1).

Laube paces Marion girls by Maquoketa

Mia Laube led the Marion girls basketball team to a 48-29 win over Maquoketa on Tuesday with a game-high 17 points in the Marion gym.

The Indians jumped to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter and cruised to the victory.

Chloe Rice added 11 points for Marion.

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Young Indians think the future is now

The Marion High School girls basketball team has a bunch of talented freshmen and sophomores on the squad, but they don't want to wait until they are juniors and seniors to compete for a state title.

They think the future is now.

The Indians fashioned a 17-6 record last season with several freshmen playing prominent roles. Now they've been joined by another talented rookie class heading into the 2015-16 campaign.

Coach Corby Laube lists a total of 12 freshmen and sophomores on his 16-girl outfit and he agrees with his players: The Indians have the ingredients to become a state contender this season.

"I think our goal right now is to be at that level," he said Wednesday. "We feel like we've put in the work and we've got the players that we can compete and beat anybody.

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