It took a bit too long for Marmaton Valley High’s girls to find their stride Tuesday.
The Wildcats saw their chance at victory slip away in the second quarter as Cherryvale put together a 17-2 run.
The Chargers led by as many as 20 in the second half before the Wildcats caught fire down the stretch.
The Wildcats’ 50-38 loss drops the girls to the consolation side of the War on 54 bracket, where they’ll take on Yates Center at 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Iola High School gymnasium in the tournament’s semifinals. From there, MV will take on St. Paul or Crest in the final round Friday.
Marmaton Valley head coach Becky Carlson is optimistic that her squad will be in a better frame of mind as the tournament progresses.
“We didn’t start out very strong,” she said. “We missed some easy baskets and got down on ourselves.”
The Chargers, fresh off a 26-point win over Humboldt on Friday, trailed the Wildcats 9-4 after one quarter, but took control over the next two periods.
A 17-4 Cherryvale run put Marmaton Valley in arrears, 21-13, at halftime. Another big run pushed the Chargers ahead, 38-18, after three.
Marmaton Valley’s Janae Granere and Payton Scharff took matters into their own hands down the stretch.
Granere scored 13 straight points for MV in the fourth quarter, before Scharff scored the team’s final seven points of the night.
Granere wound up with 19 points to lead the Wildcats. Scharff was next with 16.
Bethany Umbarger scored 18 and Shelby Raida 11 for the Chargers, who advance to play Anderson County in the War on 54 semifinal round.
“Cherryvale’s good,” Carlson said. “I’m not going to take anything away from them. We just couldn’t get into a flow, right until the end.”
Marmaton Valley had not played or practiced since Friday because of the wintry weather.
“I’m not going to make any excuses, but that’s tough,” Carlson admitted. “We showed a lot of fight at the end. Hopefully, that will carry us through.”
Cherryvale (4-17-17-12—50)
FG/3pt FT F TP
Umbarger 6 6 2 18
Gass 0 0 2 0
Raida 2/1 4 0 11
John 2/1 1 2 8
Fox 0 1 3 1
Marchant 0/1 0 3 3
Strickland 0 0 1 0
Dean 0/1 0 2 3
Forman 2 1 4 5
Whittley 0 2 0 2
Totals 12/4 14 19 50
Marmaton Valley (9-2-7-20—38)
Barney 0 0 3 0
Scharff 5 6 3 16
Blevins 0 0 1 0
Forero 0 3 4 3
Adams 0 0 4 0
Granere 6/1 4 4 19
Totals 11/1 13 19 38
