The Ovid-Elsie Lady Marauders took on undefeated and State ranked Byron in an MMAC showdown Friday night.  Byron would ultimately prevail, 55-36.

"I thought we played hard for four quarters and that was our main focus tonight.  We didn't want anything to be easy for Byron," said Head Coach Ryan Cunningham.  "We knew we were up against a great team - a team that is senior heavy and has only lost one game the last two years.  We are young and still growing but I can look anyone in the eye and tell them 'I couldn't be prouder of our effort tonight.'"

Byron was able to get out to an early lead but OE closed the lead and it was 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.  A 15-5 second quarter put the Marauders down 28-13 at half.

"We knew we had made some mistakes defensively and we were putting them to the line too much," Cunningham added.  "We needed to put together a better second quarter."

The Lady Eagles outscored OE 13-8 again in the third, but it was the Marauders taking a 15-14 edge in the fourth stanza.

Madison Cunningham paced Ovid-Elsie (5-2, 1-1 MMAC) with 12 points and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists while Braeden Tokar added 6 points.  Caitlyn Walter and Evalyn Cole each scored 5 points with Ava Bates adding 4 and Tristin Ziola and Braylon Byrnes each scoring 2.  Tokar led in rebounding with 5 caroms.  The Marauders shot 40% on the game and assisted 8 times on 15 made baskets, but the free throw discrepency was to much to overcome as the Marauders went 1 for 4 and Byron drained 13 of 15.

Ovid-Elsie will be back in action against another State ranked opponent Monday night as the Red Raiders of Portland will travel to OE.  Game time is slated for 7:00 p.m.