MORAN — Tournament Week came to a painful finish for Marmaton Valley High’s girls on Friday in more ways than one.
The Wildcats were smothered by West Elk’s stifling defense, which limited Marmaton Valley to four field goals on the night in a 44-15 defeat.
The Wildcats also lost the services of Kayla Ard, one of Marmaton Valley’s key offensive threats, after she fell and hit her head on the floor during a battle for a rebound in the second quarter.
She could only watch as the Patriots blew open a 20-8 halftime lead in the third and fourth periods. A 17-0 run pushed West Elk in front 39-10.
Madelynne Koop’s 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter pushed the West Elk advantage to 42-12, triggering a running clock to close the rest of the game.
“They’re very intense,” Carlson said of the Patriot defense. “It reminds of some of those old Girard teams.”
West Elk led 14-3 after the first period before Marmaton Valley rallied somewhat in the second quarter.
Janae Granere’s bucket midway through the period pulled MV within 12, but that was as close as the Wildcats could get as West Elk challenged every pass, every shot, every rebound, and occasionally every dribble.
It’s only a rumor that the West Elk defenders could correctly identify the brand and flavor of the bubble gum the Wildcat players favored.
Still, there were building blocks for the 0-3 Wildcats.
“We played good defense,” Carlson said. “But we don’t finish. We play hard defense, and then we don’t get a rebound. But we did a good job against an explosive offense.”
Aly Ard scored four, while Granere and Kayla Ard had three for the Wildcats.
Koop scored 21 to pace West Elk.
Marmaton Valley returns to the court Tuesday at home against Humboldt.
West Elk (14-6-11-13—44) (FG/3pt): L. Wiseman 0-0-1-0, McClendon 3-4-4-10, Whetstone 2-0-2-4, D. Wiseman 1-1-4-3, Ware 2-0-1-4, Beeman 0-0-3-0, Walker 1-0-0-2, Koop 3/3-6-2-21. TOTALS: 12/3-11-17-44.
