Article and Photos by T Ray Henry
The Marshall High School girls basketball team played the Lawrenceville High School Lady Indians in the consolation semifinal round of the Little Illini Conference Tournament at McNary Gymnasium on the campus of Marshall High School on Monday, January 19th. Both squads came in after falling in the opening round of the tournament to higher seeded teams, so this matchup was to determine who would advance to the consolation bracket’s championship game against Newton, who defeated Casey-Westfield in the first part of the doubleheader.
The Lions and Lady Indians played back in December in Lawrenceville’s gym, and paced by Lincoln Land College signee Addeline Sanders, Lawrenceville defeated Marshall by 15 points. Sanders, who has scored over 1100 points during her high school career, is currently fourth in the state in Illinois Class 1A in three-point shooting (and 17th among all four classes in Illinois). Marshall’s mission during this rematch was to limit Sanders from going on a scoring binge while playing better overall defense. Marshall’s offensive output would take care of itself with transition points, but that is solely based off their defense.
The Marshall faithful who came out to McNary Gym on a cold and windy night instead of staying home to watch the College Football Playoff championship game between Indiana and Miami were treated to an absolute clinic on how to defend a future college basketball athlete. Switching up defenders all game long on Lawrenceville’s leading scorer, the Lions held Addeline Sanders to 8 points the entire game, by far her lowest output of the season before Marshall head coach Michael Henry pulled all of his starters with just under two minutes remaining with Marshall ahead by 15 points (50-35). Sanders stayed in the game through the final buzzer while padding her stats, but when the clock ticked down to zeroes, Marshall came away with a 50-44 win to avenge the earlier defeat. The final margin of victory, though, was not nearly as close as the score would indicate. The Lions simply dominated in all phases of the game.
After the teams traded buckets early with Elise Crawford scoring for the Lady Indians and Lynn Welborn scoring for the Lions, Ella Mattas drained a three-pointer from the right side to give Marshall a 5-3 lead. Ava Cessna scored for Lawrenceville to tie the game at 5 with five minutes left in the opening quarter before Marshall stormed ahead by scoring 10 straight points over the next three minutes of play to lead 15-5 with 2:10 left in the quarter. Lynn Welborn led the way as the Lions were determined to get her the ball inside, and Welborn responded with two buckets and three free throws. McKenzie Davis, who was brought in early to battle with twin centers of Lawrenceville in the middle, scored a basket inside as well as a free throw. The field goal scored by Davis came on a wonderful drive and bounce pass from Harper Richardson, who drew defenders to her before curling the ball left-handed on the floor around the defense to Davis on the right side of the lane.
Lawrenceville hit two quick buckets to get within five points (15-10) before Marshall’s Marlee Heighton swished a three-pointer from the top of the key to end the scoring in the first quarter with Marshall leading 18-10.
The Lady Indians got within five again when Addeline Sanders finally hit a shot from deep on the left side to make the score 18-13 in favor of the Lions. The basket by Sanders was her only points of the first half as Marshall tightly defended her and would not allow her to get free for her shot. Through the remainder of the quarter, the teams played to a stalemate as Marshall took an eight-point lead into the halftime break with the score 26-18. Lynn Welborn had six points while Addy Ross had two points to account for all of Marshall’s points in the stanza.
Lawrenceville came out in the third quarter and scored five straight points to make it 26-23. Marshall got its first points of the quarter when Marlee Heighton splashed a three-pointer from the left wing to put the Lions ahead by six. Marshall’s defense then created a turnover which led to a breakaway score by Lynn Welborn. The Big Red kept up the defensive pressure as the Lions dominated Lawrenceville inside and along the perimeter. McKenzie Davis pulled down a couple huge rebounds, keeping the Lady Indians off the glass. In the third, Marlee Heighton got free to score four baskets, two of them being three-pointers, while Lynn Welborn ended up with three buckets inside as the Lions took a 42-30 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
The fourth quarter was never in doubt for the Lions, who continued to keep the Lady Indians at a safe margin until the clock ticked down to just under two minutes remaining and Marshall led by 15 with the score 50-35. At that point in the game, Marshall held Lawrenceville’s biggest scorer to just 8 points. The Lady Indians scored some baskets down the stretch to make the score seem closer, but this game was not close at all after 2 ½ quarters of play. When the final buzzer sounded, Marshall defeated Lawrenceville by the score of 50-44.
Lynn Welborn led the Lions with 25 points, while Marlee Heighton finished with 13. McKenzie Davis had 5 points, Ella Mattas had 3 points, and Addy Ross and Harper Richardson each finished with 2 points. The story of this game, however, was Marshall’s terrific defense and rebounding.
Statistics:
Rebounds - Welborn 9, Mattas 5, Heighton 5, A. Ross 4, Davis 4, Richardson 3, Thompson 1
Assists - Heighton 4, Mattas 4, Richardson 4, Ross 2, Welborn 1
Steals - Welborn 3, Richardson 3, Mattas 1, Davis 1
With the win, Marshall (10-7) advances to the consolation bracket championship game this Thursday night when they take on Newton at 7:30 PM inside McNary Gymnasium.
Harper Richardson dribble drives over to the right side before curling around two screens and scoring for Marshall vs Lawrenceville
Marlee Heighton rises up over the Lawrenceville defender to score for Marshall
Lynn Welborn (2) goes in for 2 of her 25 points in Marshall's big win over Lawrenceville in the LIC Tournament