MORAN — Friday’s season-opener wasn’t the prettiest game you’ll see.
Host Marmaton Valley’s girls took on visiting Uniontown to tip off the 2017-18 season, and the two rivals struggled mightily to score.
It was the Wildcat defense that turned the tide in the 30-15 victory, head coach Sherry Bagshaw said.
“We couldn’t have played better defense in the first half,” Bagshaw said. “The third quarter, we had a letdown. That’s to be expected; they’re tired. But in the fourth quarter, we picked it back up and got some steals. That’s what helped us. Defense won this game, hands down.”
The Wildcats led 5-3 after one, 13-3 at halftime and 17-7 after three.
Bailey Griffith’s seven points led all scorers. Isabelle Bigelow and Patricia Outlan followed with six apiece.
Mackenzie Franklin scored five to pace Uniontown.
“There’s a bit of a rivalry between Uniontown and Marmaton Valley,” Bashaw said. “The girls were excited to get this win. All this running and hard work has paid off.”
IN BOYS action, Uniontown drained five 3-pointers in the first quarter to grab a 21-6 lead, and coasted from there to a 50-35 win.
“I don’t know if it was jitters,” Wildcat head coach Jason Bauer said. “All of these kids played last year. They were hot early, and we were ice cold.”
Justice Pugh went 8 of 10 from the line to score a team-high 13 points for the Wildcats. Caiden Elliott followed with six.
Ben George erupted for 24 points, followed by Jez Simpson’s 17 for Uniontown.
Girls
Uniontown (3-0-4-8—15) (FG/3pt): Goodridge 0-1-3-1, Hampton 2-0-3-4, Franklin 2-1-5-5, Shinn 0-0-1-0, Tinsley 0-0-1-0, Schoenberger 1-0-2-2, McAnulty 0-0-1-0, S. Hampton 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 5/1-2-18-15.
Marmaton Valley (5-8-4-13—30) (FG/3pt): Gutierrez 1-2-1-4, Griffith 3-1-1-7, Bigelow 3-0-0-6, Ard 0-0-3-0, Becker 1/1-0-1-5, Woods 0-0-1-0, Outlan 2-2-4-6, Ensminger 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 11/1-5-12-30.
Boys
Uniontown (21-13-12-4—50) (FG/3pt): L. George 0-0-3-0, Simpson 1 /4-3-2-17, Perry 0-0-2-0, B. George 9/1-3-3-24, Fuhrman 0-0-1-0, Fry 3-0-3-6, Reed 0/1-0-3-3, Sutterby 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 13/6-6-19-50.
Marmaton Valley (6-7-15-7—35) (FG/3pt): Elliott 0/2-0-0-6, Pugh 1/1-8-3-13, Griffith 0/1-0-4, Wise 1-0-3-3, Hall 0/1-0-3-3, Smith 1-0-2-2, Heskett 2-0-0-4. TOTALS: 5/5-10-12-35.
Picture — Marmaton Valley’s Trinitee Gutierrez (00) seeks a teammate in the Wildcats’ 30-15 win over Uniontown.
