Coach Tory Douglass’s Marietta’s Lady Indians traveled to Frederick on Thursday, February 17 to open the first round of post-season play. Once there, they soundly defeated their hosts to earn the title of district champions.
Marietta led after the first quarter, 13-11, and in the second, managed to extend their lead a little more, going into the locker room at halftime up 26-22.
“We started out a little slow on offense,” Douglass said, “but we made some adjustments at halftime.”
Among those adjustments were forcing Frederick off the three-point line and getting his post players in position to help stop drives to the lane. Additionally, the Lady Indians rebounding efforts limited their opponents to one shot much of the night, allowing for transition points on the other offensive end of the floor.
“Early in the year I told my girls that if they wanted to make a run in the playoffs, defense is where it’s at,” he said. “Everybody looks at points, but if we can’t stop anybody from scoring, that doesn’t mean anything.”
In the third quarter, Marietta continued to play tough defense and work for good shots, leading 47-43 at the end of the quarter, and in the fourth quarter, the Lady Indians blew it wide open, winning by a final score of 76-55.
“They hung around because we allowed them to hang around,” Douglass remarked, “but in the fourth, we shut them down and never took our foot off the gas.”
Senior Toriauna Douglass, who scored her 1,000th high school point in Tuesday’s Healdton game, led her team in scoring with 23 points. Haven Matthews had 15. Codi Durst, Luciana Douglass, and Kaylie Douglas had nine apiece, Maddy Torres seven, and Reagan Denham four.
And, sure, since you can’t win without outscoring your opponent, Coach Douglass was proud of his team’s offensive production, but it was their defensive effort that he praised.
“We had almost 50 rebounds in the game,” he said. “For the first time this season, I had five or six players with over five rebounds apiece. It’s a proven fact: defense wins ballgames, and that’s what got us the win.”
Douglass’s Lady Indians have been a scrappy team all year, the kind of toughness needed for success in the playoffs. They were scheduled to play the number three team in Class 3A, Jones, on Thursday. However, results were not available as of press time.
“I told the girls, it’s a big task ahead of us, but anybody can beat anybody,” he said. “If we hustle, rebound, and play good defense, we’ve got a real good chance. If we don’t, it’ll be a long ride home from Jones.
“I believe in these girls, always have. If they have that kind of confidence in themselves, we’ll be just fine.”
Check next week’s Monitor for Marietta’s regional tournament results.