March 2, 2018 By Chris Varney
The Game: The #1 ranked Marion Indians (25-0) plays the #3 Grinnell Tigers (23-2) in the Class 4A State Championship at the Wells Fargo Arena, Tip-Off at 8:00 pm tonight.
The Background: Grinnell beat Mason City 70-51 in the first round with Sienna Durr leading with 24 points and 17 rebounds and Kameron Moore with 22 points. The Tigers then stopped LeMars in the semifinals 68-47. LeMars led 10-3 early in the first quarter, Grinnell missed their first 8 shots from the field but closed to within one at the end of the quarter. Macy Harris got a lay-up off an offensive rebound for the first basket of the second quarter and never relinquished the lead. Durr led with 23 points and 7 rebound, Naomi Jackson had 18 points and 6 assists and Harris had 15 points (10 in the second quarter), 8 rebounds and 6 steals.
Marion beat #8 seeded Farifield 71-39 in the first round. The Indians only led 21-17 at the half but pulled away in the second half. Chloe Rice led the way with 15 points, Kayba Laube had 14 points and Riley Wright added 13. Marion set a new 4A state tournament record with 71 points and 14 three pointers. The 14 threes ties for most ever in the state tournament. In the semifinals, Marion would beat #4 seeded Center Point-Urbana 56-46. This was the Indians third victory over the Stormin’ Pointers. Laube led with 13 points, Rice added 10 and Caitlyn Smith hit a big three in the 4th quarter finishing with 9.
The Coaches: Grinnell’s Trent Edsen (135-92) is in his 10th season, Marion’s Corby Laube (222-119) is in his 6th season as the girls coach; Laube coached 9 seasons with the Indian boys.
The Players: Grinnell will go with the same starting five (Durr, Moore, Harris, Jackson and Megan Doty). Durr has scored 47 in the first 2 tournament games, she needs 23 to set a new record for most points scored in a 4A state tournament. Durr is Grinnell’s all-time leader in points (1,538), rebounds (726) and blocked shots (245) and has committed to play basketball at Columbia University in the Ivy League. Moore is 20 points away from 1,000 for her career and she is Grinnell’s all-time leader in steals (230) and has 204 career assists. Jackson is averaging 17.0 points a game in the tournament and is 6-17 from three point land. Jackson has 70 three pointers on the season which ranks 2nd in Class 4A, one behind Mason City’s Megan Meyer. Harris is averaging 10.5 ppg in the tournament. Doty has 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in the tournament. Grinnell is 19-22 from the free throw line combined in the tournament.
Marion is led by 5’9″ Sophomore Kaybe Laube (13.5 ppg) who leads the team with 65 three pointers, which ranks third in Class 4A. 5’10” and has verbally committed to play at UNI. Senior Chloe Rice (11.0 ppg) will be attending St. Louis University. Rounding the Indians’ probable starters are 5’9″ Senior Mia Laube (7.4), 6’1″ Junior Randi Wright (4.8) and 5’10” Senior Caitlyn Smith (4.5). The Indians are extremely deep with 5’10” Freshman Riley Wright (8.3), 5’9″ Junior Leah Van Weeldon (5.6), 5’11” Junior Sophie Willette (4.5), and 6′ Freshman Ella Van Weelden (4.3) all seeing significant minutes. Its a family affair at Marion with four different sets of sisters on the team.
The Keys: Grinnell (73.0) and Marion (68.4) are 1 and 2 in Class 4A in points per game so one might think this will be a high scoring game. My guess is that it will be similar to the Marion — CPU game. When two heavyweights slug it out, the defenses usually shine and shooting becomes more difficult. Both teams can shoot the three and both teams play great defense. The Indians are taller and deeper than Grinnell and will try to wear down the Tigers over the long haul.
The biggest key for Grinnell will be defending the three point shot. Marion relies heavily on shooting from beyond the arc and the Tigers will have to assume that every time an Indian player touches the ball that they are going to shoot it. Turnovers will be huge tonight. Every pass will be contested, especially by the Marion defense. The Indians all have long and lanky arms that love to slap passes away. There is no one Marion player that the Tigers will need to focus on although Rice seems to be hottest player at the moment.
Grinnell cannot afford to start the game like they did against LeMars. If Grinnell can come out shooting early and set a statement early, it might be a blow to Marion. If that happens, Marion will still make a run so the Tigers will have to keep the foot on the gas. I expect this to be a great basketball game that could come down to the wire in the final couple of minutes. Everybody in the state is picking Marion but Grinnell is playing their best basketball of the season right now. This will be fun.
The Broadcast: Simulcast on Energy 106.7 FM, 1410 KGRN and myiowainfo.com, Tiger Pre-Game at 7:30, Tip off 8 pm.