Marquette takes down Nokomis 58-40 after tough defensive match
ALTON - The defense of the Marquette Catholic High School Explorers and the Nokomis High School Lady Redskins were quite a match for this Thursday night’s contest.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Fortunately for the Explorers and their home crowd, they could roll with the punches and adjust where necessary to ensure their 58-40 against the Redskins at the final buzzer.
“It feels great,” Explorers Coach Meagan Hanlon said after the game, “They’re a good ball club. Andria Pace was a stud tonight and to come in this year after Nokomis beat us last year by 25 or so points is really great.”
“I’m feeling really disappointed of course,” Nokomis Coach Rachelle McDowell said after her team’s loss. “With all of the foul trouble we had throughout the game, our girls really handled things the best they could. We have a lot to work on.”
Marquette's Andria Pace led the scorers on Thursday night with 26 points and 13 rebounds. Caitlyn Hanlon had 10 points, Taylor Aguirre and Brittany Pace both had seven points for the Explorers.
In the first, Nokomis junior Madison Kates kicked the game off with a staggering three-pointer. Senior Brittany Pace added two to the board quickly for Marquette before senior Autumn Boliard nailed a basket for the Redskins.
Marquette senior Andria Pace locked in a scoring basket and a successful free throw to tie the score at 5-5. Senior Karmyn Cox swiftly scored to bring the score up two more for Nokomis before another shot by Andria Pace could tie the score again at 7-7.
After a series of free throws, Kates locked in three more points, furthering her team’s lead over Marquette. Cox then went on to land another basket to bring the Redskins’ score to 12.
Andria Pace tacked two more points on to Marquette’s scoreboard. Following her play, her teammate and senior Caitlyn Hanlon knocked in her first basket of the game.
In the Redskins’ final scoring play of the first period, sophomore McKenna Sanders scored a basket before Marquette’s Brittany Pace could close the gap, bringing the scores to 14-13 in Nokomis’s favor at the end of the first.
The second quarter was quite the nail-biter for everyone participating in the match, as each team’s defense was even stronger than the first, allowing only five scoring plays each for each team in the entire eight minutes.
To kick off the period, Andria pace locked down a two-point shot for Marquette. Shortly after, Sanders brought in two more and took the lead back at 16-15. Her teammate and classmate Alyssa Huber further extended their team’s lead by shooting in another basket.
However, that was nothing Marquette’s Hanlon couldn’t handle, taking and subsequently making a great three-point shot to tie the score at 18-18. Following the three-pointer, on a rebound shot, Andria Pace added another two to the score board to give her team the lead.
After a time out was called, Boliard tied the score yet again with after landing a great basket worth two.
Fresh off of the bench, senior Elena Gable threw in a crisp three-pointer to take the lead back yet again. Boliard was quick to rebuttal, locking down two-more points to narrow the point gap by one pint.
The offense of Marquette was simply on too much of a role, and Gable took full advantage of her momentum to lock down another two-point basket before the end of the period.
Nokomis was not finished yet. Before the final buzzer, Cox swooshed the ball into the basket one more time before the end of the period to narrow the gap with a score of 25-24 in Marquette’s favor.
In the third, the defensive battle continued, but Marquette seemed to keep the edge over Nokomis.
The Explorers took command of the first part of the period with a free throw point by Brittany Pace, a two-point shot by sophomore Peyton Kline and a free throw point by Hanlon to bring the score to 29-24.
After a bit of a struggle to get on the board in the period, Cox put two points on the board for Nokomis.
Andria Pace knocked in back-to-back two-pointers to further extend Marquette’s lead at a score of 33-26. Cox went on to score two more for the Redskins before her teammate and sophomore Taylor Lohman brought the team’s score to 30 points. Pace locked down another two-point shot before Lohman could score two herself. The back-to-back continued once more; however, Lohman could only lock down one less shot than Pace and the Explorers kept the lead against the Redskins with a score of 37-33 at the end of the third.
The fourth and final period was the most active quarter as far as scoring plays and fouls were concerned.
Marquette got the period started by a three-pointer by sophomore Taylor Aguirre. Andria Pace kept the ball rolling with a free throw point to tack on one more. Aguirre landed two more before Brittany Pace locked down a basket worth two points. Their teammate, senior Allison Hoefert scored one more point from a successful free throw to raise the score to 46-33.
A foul committed on Lohman earned Nokomis two points from free throws.
Andria Pace then went on to push her points earned into the twenties with another two-point shot.
Boliard locked in a scoring play, earning two more for Nokomis. She then would bring in two more points from two successful free throw attempts.
Pace brought the Explorers’ score to 50 and Agguire furthered her team’s lead by two more after landing a basket herself.
Kates landed their 40th and final point for Nokomis before Hanlon landed four points in a row from a basket and two successful free throws and before Andria Pace could close out the game with two more points for free throws herself. Marquette captured the victory over Nokomis with a score of 58-40 at the final buzzer.
More like this:
- Most Popular
- Top Stories
- Most Recent
