Familiar foes: Marcus tops Lady Eagles, 48-35

FLOWER MOUND -- With two teams looking to get out in transition, rebounding was vital in Friday's non-district contest between Flower Mound Marcus and Allen.

Nine boards apiece from Ashley James and Jenna Davis slanted the edge in Marcus' favor and the Lady Marauders (12-4) carried the advantage to a 48-35 victory over the Lady Eagles (13-4).

Marcus' patented defense also limited the Lady Eagles to 27 percent shooting.

"Allen has great shooters, so our biggest concern was contesting their shots and then trying to run off the rebounds," said Fred Jones, Marcus head coach. "We've been focusing on playing a little faster. That was our focus all fall, so we were excited to get out there in a game where we could up-and-down a little bit."

Vanessa Jones paced Marcus with a game-high 14 points, including three 3-point conversions, while Davis and James had nine and eight, respectively.

For Allen, junior Anna Horowitz led the way with 13 points and three from deep, while senior Tammara Turner had six points. The Lady Eagles shot 6-of-26 on 3-pointers and converted only five field goals inside the line.

"I thought we executed OK," said Sean Weibling, Allen head coach. "[Marcus] does a great job of taking away the drive. We do have shooters on the floor and I thought they did a decent job of getting out to our shooters. We got some good looks, but went a little cold from three, especially compared to where we have been. The key is if you aren't going to hit the three, you have to get to the rim and get fouled and it's so hard to do against that defense."

Allen got the line for 15 free throws, while Marcus made 20 trips to the charity stripe.

The Lady Eagles shot well early, as 3-pointers from junior Ericka May and sophomore Kayla Bise coupled with an and-1 from Turner gave Allen an 8-2 lead. But Jones answered, scoring a layup off a steal followed by a pair of long-range connections to put the Lady Marauders back in front, 11-8; a lead Marcus would never relinquish.

In the second quarter, driving layups from Morgan Easley, James and Davis put Marcus up, 22-14.

Jones knocked down her third 3-pointer of the night to start the second half, but it was the only scoring Marcus did in the quarter as Allen climbed back to within 35-28 following consecutive baskets by sophomore McKenzie Martin and Horowitz.

However, the Lady Marauders used a 10-2 spurt in the fourth to pull away.

A sequence in which Taylor Roof grabbed multiple offensive rebounds before getting one to fall sparked the run, which also featured a pair of assists from Sierra Bone to Roof and Jessie O'Malley.

"We knew the key was to own the rebounds and try to push in transition," Weibling said. "We didn't box out enough tonight and gave them too many opportunities. If we're going to be able to push and up the tempo, we have to get every rebound."

"That's been a huge focus for us," coach Jones added. "The last couple games, Jenna and Taylor have been great for us on the boards. Ashley has gotten five or more the last four games and if she got nine tonight, that's even better. That's huge for us."

Coach Jones was also pleased with Marcus' balance and willingness to attack inside.

"We believe with our defense that if we can take care of the ball and be efficient on offense, it's going to be tough to come back on us," he said. "Offensively, we did a great job spreading the floor out and taking great shots. Our points in the paint were huge."

The result was a 48-35 Marcus win.

"All of our kids did well at times, but we have to be consistent," Weibling said. "We're growing; we're getting older and wiser so we can battle in games like this. We just have to keep the consistency."

That consistency did not appear Tuesday as Allen lost to Flower Mound, 57-41. After starting the season 13-2, the Lady Eagles have dropped three straight.

Allen will attempt to end that trend at 6 p.m. Friday as its former District 8-5A tour continues on the road against Lewisville.

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