Marietta’s Indians and Lady Indians hit the floor in the Bill Johnson Gymnasium on Tuesday night, hosting the Putnam Heights Academy Panthers and Lady Panthers for their season opener and coming away with two wins.
Coach Tory Douglass’s Lady Indians jumped out to a 15-1 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. Marietta continued to dominate a Lady Panthers team that struggled offensively all night, holding Putnam Heights scoreless in the second quarter, while Marietta senior Reagan Denham scored 10 of her 14 points, leading the Lady Indians to a 22 point quarter, and a 37-1 halftime lead.
The third quarter was more of the same, with Marietta outscoring the Lady Panthers 10-2 and extending the lead to 47-3.
Putnam Heights was finally able to generate some offense in the last quarter, scoring five points. Problem was that Lady Indian Olivia Rutledge outscored the visiting team, getting six of her eight total points in the last quarter.
Led by Denham’s 14 points, Jolie Heydon’s 12, and Maddy Torres’s 11, the home team coasted to a 60-8 win in their first game of the season. Other Lady Indians in the scoring column were Kaiya Douglass and Ashlyn Lucas Douglass with four points apiece and Jessica Bates with three points.
“I think we had some first-game jitters. We started off a little slow and didn’t take our shots when we were open,” said Douglass. “We’ve got some work to do. Defensive rebounding plays a major part in our transition offense, so we have to get a little better at that. The great thing about our mistakes tonight is that they’re fixable. Overall we’re happy about our first win of the season.”
Coach Kenny Barnes’s Indians didn’t have such an easy time of it, although the end result was the same: a win to open the season.
Easton Ballard came out strong in the first quarter for the Indians, scoring eight of his 17 points and leading Marietta to a 15-13 lead at the end of the opening frame. In the second quarter, with a little help from Tucker Kirk’s and Damoron Green’s four points apiece, the Indians were again able to outscore the visiting Panthers and take a 28-22 lead into the locker room at the half.
After some halftime adjustments, the Panthers came fighting back in the third quarter, outscoring the Indians 20-11 to take the lead 42-39 heading into the last quarter and forcing the Indians to come from behind.
In the fourth quarter, the Indians spread the scoring out with Green getting five of his 13 points, Ballard adding four, Antonio Delatorre scoring four of his 15, Parker Pharr getting three of his six, and Juan Lopez chipping in two points in a 20-point quarter, while the defense held the Panthers to only 15. But it was a last-second shot by freshman Aedan Ellison that put the Indians ahead for good and clinched the game.
It was a slim margin of victory, 60-57, but when the buzzer sounded, enough for a win.
“We played consistently on offense,” said Coach Barnes. “Anytime you score 60 points, you have good chance to win. But we need to be better defensively in the halfcourt, and we missed too many free throws. We have some weapons this year with two or three kids who can score 20 points a game and another six kids who can get 10 points. I’m proud of the guys for playing with some confidence and getting the win.”
Both Douglass and Barnes expressed their appreciation to Cedric Bailey, college sports announcer and sports radio broadcaster for announcing the evening’s game, and to the community for coming out to support the Indians’ and Lady Indians’ basketball programs. (Photography by Jennifer Hicks)