Lady Wildcats down Massac in overtime at 3A regional

CARTERVILLE -- Sometimes it's not how you start but how you finish.
Sometimes it's both.
The Marion High School girls basketball team jumped out to a 14-0 lead in Monday night's game against Massac County at the Carterville 3A Regional, only to look up and be trailing by eight points in the fourth quarter.
But the Lady Wildcats forced an overtime session and with some clutch free-throw shooting pulled away for a 64-55 victory to advance to Tuesday's semifinals.
Marion hit nine straight free throws in overtime to get the win. McKenzie Orange split a pair and Jordan Turner nailed two. Then after Abby Bayer scored on a drive and Jasa Bell put in a layup, Bayer dropped in four in a row and Daishen Wolaver swished a pair.
Early in the season, free throws weren't one of Marion's strengths. But they have since become a weapon.
"That's something every team works on every night," said Marion coach Mike Manfredo. "It's had its ebbs and flows. Actually the last three weeks we've shot almost 70 percent so tonight really helped because late in the game they were so crucial. And we had several kids step up and make them. That was nice."
Bayer was particularly clutch. The senior guard went 11 of 12 from the line on a night when Marion went 27 of 36 as a team. Bayer led the Lady Wildcats with 19 points and Bell had 13. Wolaver and Orange both had eight, Lauryn Kadela and Turner both had six and Jackie Drury chipped in with four.
Marion, which clinched its first winning season since 2011 with a buzzer-beating win over Carbondale last Thursday, moved to 16-12 going into that semifinal matchup with Carterville.
It looked like an easy win early on as Kadela, Bell, Orange, Bayer and Wolaver all scored to give Marion a 14-0 lead. Massac didn't score until nearly six minutes had gone off the clock.
Marion's lead was 16-6 going into the second quarter, but 3-pointers by Lauren Coakley and eight points from Jessie Lewis helped cut the margin to 22-21. Two free throws from Bell with 0.7 left on the clock made it 24-21 at the break.
"It was a perfect start to the night," Manfredo said. "We jump on them early and get a nice big lead but in the second quarter they said wait a minute and stepped it up. They got right back in it very fast."
Two more 3-pointers by Coakley put Massac ahead for the first time at 35-34 in the final minute of the third quarter. And a steal and layup by Taylor Williams gave the Lady Patriots a three-point lead going into the fourth.
Those points were part of a 13-0 run as Coakley quickly netted five points in the opening seconds of the final period. And then after a stretch where Marion went 5 of 8 from the foul line, suddenly Massac had an eight-point lead at 47-39 after a three-point play by Paige Box and two free throws from Lewis.
Marion's comeback started with a layup from Bayer, then a 3-pointer by Turner from in front of Marion's bench in the left corner. It was the start of a 12-2 run that also included two baskets from Bell and a pair of free throws from Wolaver.
Marion was back ahead at 50-49 on a basket from Bell that started with a nifty pass from Bayer, then a defensive stop led to Bayer splitting two free throws -- her only miss of the night -- with 33.4 seconds left.
After some back and forth possessions, Massac eventually tied it at 51 on a basket from Kendra Waldon. Marion had a chance to win at the buzzer but Waldon tipped a shot from Orange and four minutes was added to the clock.
Marion's defense was stellar in the overtime and led to five trips to the charity stripe and layups from Bayer and Bell, the team's two active seniors.
"In the third quarter Massac took the game over, but we called a timeout and told them not to panic," Manfredo said. "We got our composure back finally and had a chance to win it in regulation but took it over nicely in overtime.
"Our seniors led us in scoring and that's the way it's been all year. That's who you have to ride this time of year."
Coakley scored 21 points to lead all scorers. Waldon had 11 and Lewis put in 10 for the Lady Patriots, who finished at 10-16 with three losses coming against Marion.