A long, snowy drive was worth it last night, as the JV Lady Marauders were able to defeat the New Lothrop Hornets 26-24 to move to 4-2 (3-0 MMAC). After coming out to a fast start – building a 10-4 1^st quarter advantage – foul trouble hampered some of OE’s starters intermittently throughout the night. That, a lot of turnovers, and struggling to find the bottom of the hoop for much of the 2^nd quarter led to the Hornets racing back to take a 14-16 lead at halftime.

“Going into halftime, we weren’t happy with our execution on offense or the 2^nd chance points we were giving up. I give the girls all the credit, though - they cleaned it up in the 2^nd half and held strong in a close game. This is one of those nights that could have easily turned for the worst at any point,” Coach Belill added, “but the girls stuck in there the whole night and were able to pull out the win.”

The 2^nd half saw the Marauders regroup and start to pick away at the Hornet’s zone defense more, as both teams went into the final stanza tied at 18. Natalie Stoneman did an excellent job coming off the bench defensively as she continually harassed the Hornet’s point guard. The Marauders took the final lead of the night with two minutes left in regulation to seal the victory.

Aubrey Kurka led all OE scorers with 10 pts (11 rebs), while El Carman (9 rebs, 6 steals) and Natalie Stoneman (2 steals) both chipped in 6 pts each. Tava Kvalevog rounded out the scoring with 4 pts (2 rebs). Maddie Thornton also had herself quite the night despite remaining out of the scoring column, as she pulled down 11 rebounds along with adding 5 steals.

The JV Lady Marauders pick up action again next Monday, January 11^th at home against the Montrose Rams. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 PM.