Marist School’s Lady War Eagles defeated Lakeside High School 58-18 as the teams clashed Feb. 2. The leading scorers for Marist were seniors Andrea McGuirt with 15 points and Drey Mingo with 12 points. Sophomore guard Dana Middleton also came off the bench to chip in 9 points. Marist played a 1-2-1-1 full court trap and a 1-2-2 half court trap in the first half, which created numerous turnovers for Lakeside and stifled their offense holding the Lady Vikings to 9 first half points.

Marist head coach Kim Hixon said, “I believe our team has regained its focus after the loss to St. Pius X and Mays (in January). Since then our energy has been great—we are very competitive again and we are excited to be heading into the region playoffs.” Coach Hixon added that tournament time is the easiest time to coach because you don’t have to motivate the players.

“They know it is win and advance or lose and go home,” said Hixon.

Victory for the Marist boys was a greater challenge. Marist was outplayed in the first half by opponents with more athleticism, and they found themselves down at halftime by a score of 34-25. Marist first-year head coach Greg McClaire did not take his team to the locker room at halftime, but instead he kept them out on the court where he “coached them up” and had them shoot around. Marist players returned to the court a different team in the second half. They turned up the defense on Lakeside, took better care of the ball, and showed more aggression offensively by attacking the basket. With 56.5 seconds left in the third quarter Marist tied the game up at 50. Marist took its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer by senior guard Brady McCaffrey in the early minutes of the fourth period to go up 57-55. The two teams traded baskets throughout the remainder of the period, but clutch foul shooting down the stretch by guards Dee Goens and Mike Moore helped Marist hold off Lakeside for a 72-68 win.

Both teams will travel to Decatur to take on Columbia High School Friday, Feb. 9.