MORAN — The Marmaton Valley Wildcats’ season came to an end after they could not close the gap in time while facing the Peabody-Burns Warriors in the opening round of the substate tournament.
After resurrecting the girls basketball program following a year of inactivity, Tuesday’s contest seemed to bring the Wildcats full circle as they matched the Warriors point for point in the fourth quarter but came up short while only having six players available due to illness and injuries.
“There are only seven teams that end a season with a win. It was tough,” Marmaton Valley coach Adam Borth said. “Having it get so close and within our grasp, but letting it slip away hurt. There was some growth there, too. We’re going to be better in the future from what we did tonight.”
Marmaton Valley trailed 12-8 after the first quarter with a pair of field goals from freshman guard Reagan Marshall, senior guard Sophia Heim and a 3-pointer from freshman guard Emma Louk. 
The Warriors clamped down in the second quarter with the Wildcats limited to a single field goal from sophomore forward Adisyn Pritchard. The Wildcats, however, also played a lockdown defense to hold Peabody-Burns to single digits in the second quarter and going into halftime trailing 17-10.
“Success is relative to where you start. We started out as a team that hadn’t played basketball in 12 months,” Coach Borth said. “In the end, we were fighting tooth and nail in a substate game. I’m proud of them. They never quit and they worked hard.”
Holding the Warriors to four points in the third quarter, the Wildcats rallied back into contention on another 3-pointer from Louk, a field goal from Heim and a pair of successful jumpers from junior forward Andersyn Carr. Carr continued to have the hot hand in the fourth quarter with a pair of field goals. Heim added a 3-pointer that tied the game 26-26.
Marmaton Valley could not hold on after a 3-pointer and free-throws allowed Peabody-Burns to pull away.
Carr had a team-leading eight points, followed by Heim with seven and Louk with six. With the loss, Marmaton Valley ends the season with a 3-19 record.
For Heim, the Wildcats’ only senior, Tuesday’s seven-point production became the majority of her 11 points scored all season. A fitting way to cap her high school basketball career.
Heim said the program is in good hands and looks forward to seeing Marmaton Valley’s younger players develop and become future leaders for the program.
“As a senior, as I reflect back, we have a lot of leadership,” Heim said. “Especially the younger ones, I see how hard they work in practice. You don’t strive for perfection. You strive for progress and that’s what we saw at the end.”
