Lady Bulldogs headed to Regional Semi-Finals
The Marlin Lady Bulldogs basketball team continues their playoff push and will advance to the Regional Semi-Finals after defeating the LaPoyner Lady Flyers on Monday night in Corsicana. The Regional Semi-Final game is expected to be played on Friday, Feb. 23, in Athens High School and their opponent is yet to be announced.
The ladies traveled all the way out to Navarro College in Corsicana on Feb. 16 to take on the Frankston Lady Indians in the Area round. The Lady Bulldogs were dominant over Frankston, blowing them out 69-33.
Aaria Johnson had a balanced game with five points, a rebound, seven assists, and five steals. Aaryha Johnson played a complete game, scoring five points, 10 rebounds, and four assists. Kya Mitchell was unstoppable, scoring 19 points along with recording two rebounds, two assists, and four steals. Shawna Robinson was on fire, recording 23 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and five steals.
Keundra Wilson also had a balanced game with nine points, eight rebounds, and an assist.
The Lady Bulldogs returned back to Corsicana on Monday, Feb. 19, to face a familiar playoff opponent in the LaPoynor Lady Flyers. Marlin was victorious, defeating LaPoyner 57-48 to keep their season alive.
The first half was very even, and Marlin finished the second quarter with fastbreak layup by Shawna Robinson to go into halftime trailing 33-32. Marlin took charge in the third quarter, allowing only one point the entire quarter and they entered the fourth quarter leading 43-34. The first 3 minutes of the fourth quarter went scoreless.
LaPoyner broke the drought with three pointer to make the score 43-37. The Lady Flyers continued their comeback to close the gap to 45-42. The Lady Bulldogs regained their momentum with a huge layup by Robinson to make the score 47-42. Marlin held strong late and controlled the game with defense and clutch free throws to win the game 57-48.
They traveled to Lorena on Tuesday, Feb. 13, for the Bi-District round of the playoffs. They took on the Bosqueville Lady Bulldogs, and Marlin defeated them 43-36 to advance.
The first quarter was tight and low scoring as the two teams went into the second quarter tied at 11. The second quarter was just as close, as Marlin entered halftime with a slim 20-19 lead. Marlin continued their dominating defense in the second half, only allowing two points the whole third quarter.
“We bought in on the defensive side of the ball,” Coach Michael Mitchell said. “We wanted to keep everything in front of us. We kind of in the fourth quarter gave up some transition threes, so the score looks kind of closer than it really was. I think they went scoreless for nine minutes going into that second half.”
During the third quarter, Bosqueville tried to change their luck and began playing full court press defense, which gave Marlin some problems. This caused them to commit some turnovers, but Marlin soon figured it out remained tough on defense, and made sure those turnovers didn’t lead to Bosqueville points. Coach Mitchell made sure they remained poised, not falter, and continued to trust in each other. That trust and poise proved to be very strong as Marlin led 28-21 and found a way to beat the Bosqueville press. They seemed to solve the press by throwing the ball all the way out to midcourt, with the key pass to Aaryha Johnson, who then passed it to Shawna Robinson for a three-point shot to make it a 31-21 lead.
“Hats off to Shawna Robinson,” Mitchell said. “She played a fantastic game. That three pointer was absolutely a momentum breaker. Because they started to get back in the game and get the momentum, so when Shawna Robinson hit that three, it helped us. We’ve been like that all year long: find somebody in the game to piggyback off of, and Shawna was that person tonight.”
Marlin remained in control the rest of the game and would win the game 43-36 to advance to the next round. Aaryha Johnson played terrifically, scoring seven points, six rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Shawna Robinson was on fire, recording 20 points, eight rebounds, and three steals. Keundra Wilson also had a balanced game with six points, 10 rebounds, six steals, and a block. Coach Mitchell believed the best chance of success in the next round was to go back to their style of play and to play more tempo.
“I didn’t feel like we played our game tonight to be honest with you,” Mitchell said. “Our game is a lot more tempo. We didn’t play tempo; we didn’t push the ball a lot tonight. Hats off to Bosqueville though. Their gameplan kind of negated that a little. We’ll be better.”