The Marathon girls basketball team used a fast start and strong finish to knock off Deposit/Hancock 47-39 in the opening round of the Miss Holiday Hustle Tournament Thursday at Marathon High School. The Olympians opened with a 20-point first and closed with a 17-point fourth to pick up the victory.
Addie Oram and Audrey Ensign combined to score 38 of Marathon’s 47 points in the win. Oram came out on fire, pouring in 13 points in the opening quarter. She scored her team’s first 11 points of the game and showcased her full arsenal. She drilled one 3-pointer, had multiple finishes inside and was a perfect 2-for-2 at the free throw line.
“I was doing very well driving to the basket,” Oram said. “I was kind of getting all the way and finishing most of the time.”
She ended the first quarter shooting 5-for-8 from the floor, as Marathon took a 20-7 lead into the second. She cooled off a bit from there and the Olympians’ offense stalled out in the middle portion of the game, allowing the Eagles to hang around. Marathon head coach Beth Anne Duncan believes the Eagles’ switch to a zone defense caused them issues.
“Our press and our defense definitely helped us get a good spark on offense,” Duncan said. “We got some easy layups to start and they realized that we were getting easy shots against their man-to-man. Then they went zone and we kind of became stagnant, which let Deposit-Hancock back in the game.”
Marathon relied heavily on its defense to maintain its lead. It held the Eagles to just eight points in the second quarter and took a 24-15 lead into the break.
The third quarter played out much like the second, with Deposit/Hancock continuing to chip away slowly. Sarah Gross cut the deficit to two on a finish inside midway through the third quarter, triggering a Marathon timeout. Ensign responded to score the final points of the quarter and give the Olympians a six-point edge entering the fourth.
Things opened up for the Eagles in the fourth offensively, but they also opened back up for Oram. After being held scoreless in the middle two quarters, she made every shot from the floor in the fourth. Ensign helped close it out at the stripe, nailing all six attempts to seal it. Duncan noted how important Ensign’s scoring efforts were for Marathon down the stretch.
“It’s really important, it definitely can’t be a one-woman show out there,” Duncan said. “They know especially how important their free throws are in a game like this where you can create a bigger lead. It’s really important not just one person is aggressive and looks for their shot, other people need to so that keeps the defense honest.”
Oram led the way with 23 points, Ensign scored 15, Alina Parker had three points and Cassie Forrest, Kennedy Eaton and Haeleigh Smith all added a bucket.
Marathon will seek to win its third straight title in the eighth annual Miss Holiday Hustle Tournament. It’ll take on Tully at 6:30 p.m. today in the tournament final.
“We definitely have to rest up,” Oram said. “We have to play as a team. We’ve got to talk more on the court, we weren’t really talking (Thursday) on defense. I don’t think that was helping with their open shots, so definitely have to talk more.”
“Tully is a tough opponent,” Duncan said. “They get the ball inside and they also have an outside threat. They’re all pretty aggressive, so it’s going to be a tough test for us, that’s for sure.”
