It wasn’t always pretty or perfect for the Marathon girls basketball team, but it found a way to get a 44-43 win Tuesday night over Groton at Marathon High School. The Olympians led by as many 15 in the second half, but they had to hold on late after Groton rallied behind a 17-3 run to close the game.
The Olympians grabbed the momentum in the third. Audrey Ensign and Cassie Forrest combined for the first five of the quarter, followed by a 3-pointer from Addie Oram to extend the lead to double digits for the first time. Marathon’s lead continued to grow behind a flurry of second chance efforts on the glass. Marathon secured eight offensive rebounds in the third quarter as it ballooned the lead to 39-26 entering the fourth.
Groton also had to combat Violet Santspree being a spectator for a large portion of the third due to foul trouble.
Groton head coach Justin Albro stressed the importance of rebounding to his team at halftime, but the Red Hawks didn’t make the necessary adjustments.
“It was a little bit of foul trouble, a little bit of getting beat inside and on the boards,” Albro said. “That was kind of an issue all game for us. We just got beat inside rebounding and it was something we talked about at halftime. We didn’t make a great adjustment in the third. Just getting beat ball watching on shots and losing track of where girls were kind of hurt us and it showed for them to get out to that lead.”
Alina Parker’s putback started the fourth to extend Marathon’s lead to 15, but the Olympians only made one field goal the rest of the game. The Red Hawks switched defenses to a box-and-one on Oram and it caused issues for Marathon’s offensive.
“I was trying to get her off the ball, which is tough to do because she just wants to take it down,” Marathon head coach Beth Anne Duncan. “I wanted to get her off the ball so we could remove her and her defender from the situation and then try to get everyone else to run the offense. She could still be a part of it, you just want to get her off the ball because you’re just creating more action. Whatever we were doing was not working. We didn’t really get a good look at all at the basket. Kudos to them on throwing that in there to kind of throw us off.”
Groton’s defense opened up its offense as it worked back into the game. Lauren Gallinger and Jill Zigenfus scored back-to-back layups, followed by a Zigenfus 3-pointer. Abigail Haughwout knocked down a jumper to cut the margin to six, but Ensign delivered a much-needed basket plus a foul to stem the run. She came up empty on the free throw and Gallinger scored again to narrow the lead back to six. Devyn Blasz’s layup made it a one-possession game with under a minute to play.
Marathon had Oram at the line with a chance to potentially put it away, but she missed both free throws. Parker secured the offensive rebound, but she also missed both at the stripe before Faith Baker grabbed another offensive board. Baker split the pair to give Marathon a 44-40 lead with 18.7 seconds to play.
Zigenfus came up clutch with a 3-pointer to cut it to a one-point game with 8.8 seconds left, and another empty trip at the free throw line gave Groton a chance to win it. Blasz lost the ball out of bounds after a timeout and Marathon was able to run out the rest of the clock and secure the win.
“We were 1-for-12 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, I think that was a factor,” Duncan said. “Back-to-back-to-back turnovers when Groton hit some shots I think made our girls panic a little bit. I think we let them dictate what we were doing instead of just playing our game. I told them near the end, ‘Just let them play their game and things will go our way. We just can’t let them dictate what we’re going to do.’ That’s kind of what happens, we started panicking and picking up the pace and we needed to slow down and use the clock and play smart.”
Duncan credited the combination of Parker and Baker inside for giving Marathon as many second chances as they did.
“They were super important,” Duncan said. “I told them when they get those rebounds, they have to really hold on to that basketball and be strong because we know that Groton is aggressive and especially in those situations where they’re trying to foul. Alina and Faith were just working down there to get everything. They gave us the opportunities to go to the line with those offensive rebounds, so those were super important.”
The game was tightly contested early on, with Marathon controlling the tempo. It led by one after one before taking a four-point edge into the break. Oram starred again with 13 points in the first half, while Santspree led Groton with 10 points.
Oram finished as the high scorer in the game with 20, Ensign scored seven, Catherine Newkirk and Forrest chipped in four, Baker had three and the trio of Liz VanCise, Kennedy Eaton and Parker all had two each.
Groton was led by Blasz who scored 16 points, Zigenfus and Santspree scored 10 each, Gallinger added four, Haughwout had two and Kayden Casterline had a free throw.
Marathon returns to action at 7 p.m. Tuesday, when it hosts Southern Cayuga. Groton will play 7:30 p.m. Friday on the road against Spencer-Van Etten.
BOYS BASKETBALL
GROTON 51, MARATHON 50
Jaiden Mitchell scored a game-high 16 points and notched four in the decisive fourth quarter to help Groton edge out Marathon in a wire-to-wire thriller. The game was tied at 14 after one, Groton held a 29-28 lead at halftime and Marathon tied the game back up at 41 through three.
Carmelo Riley-Israel also scored four points in the fourth quarter and finished with 11 for the Red Hawks, Conor Eldred notched 11 points, Colson Slade recorded five points and Lane Darling and Sean O’Brien each had four points.
Camdyn Kashuba paced Marathon with 13 points, Barrett Trabucco followed him with 12 points, Austin Poth pitched in nine points, Blake Birdsall netted eight points, Colton Oram had six points and Eli Ticknor’s two points rounded out the Olympians’ effort.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
BOYS BASKETBALL
Elmira Notre Dame at Dryden, 7 p.m. today
Tully at Pulaski, 7 p.m. today
Odessa-Montour at Moravia, 7 p.m. today
GIRLS BASKETBALL
New Hartford at Homer, 7 p.m. today
McGraw at Cincinnatus, 6 p.m. today
Dryden at Elmira Notre Dame, 7:15 p.m. today
Moravia at Odessa-Montour, 7:30 p.m. today
Cortland at Skaneateles, 6:30 p.m. Thursday
Tully at Fabius-Pompey, 7 p.m. Thursday
HOCKEY
Skaneateles at Cortland/Homer, 7 p.m. Thursday at J.M. McDonald Sports Complex
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Cincinnatus at Port Byron, 7 p.m. today
Stockbridge Valley at McGraw, 7 p.m. Thursday
Cincinnatus at DeRuyter, 7 p.m. Thursday
Tully at Pulaski, 7 p.m. Thursday
BOYS WRESTLING
Cortland at Mexico, 6 p.m. today
Homer at Chittenango, 6 p.m. today
Moravia at Marathon, 6 p.m. today
Groton at Trumansburg, 6 p.m. today
Dryden at Spencer-Van Etten/Candor, 6 p.m. today
Whitney Point at Homer, 5 p.m. Thursday
Cooperstown/Milford at Southern Hills, 6 p.m. Thursday at Tully High School
GIRLS WRESTLING
Harpursville at Homer, 6 p.m. Thursday
INDOOR TRACK & FIELD
Cortland, Homer, Groton, Tully at SUNY Cortland, 6 p.m. today
BOWLING
Cortland at Homer, 3:30 p.m. Thursday at Hi-Lanes
