Mt. Zion girls basketball team finishes second in tournament

Blake Faith
The Mt. Zion girls basketball team finished second in the Arthur-Livingston-Atwood-Hammond Knights Holiday Classic Tournament last week. Abby Scharf and Denver Anderson made the All-tournament team to help the Braves with a 3-1 tournament record.
The Braves won three straight wins against Shelbyville, Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland and Cumberland.
I think overall in the tournament we had moments where we definitely got better,” Head coach Steve Marvel said. “But I’m very pleased. I think we’re in a much better spot now than we were just a couple weeks ago with our effort, our intensity, but we still gotta get smarter, but we’ll get there hopefully,”
In the championship game, the Braves led early 10-4 after two Bracie Barnes layups, an Abby Schar three-pointer and a Denver Anderson three-pointer.
The Knights responded with Charley Condill making a layup and three-pointer to cut the Braves lead to 10-9. Then the Knights took their first lead when Mallory Nichols found Claire Seal for a basket to make the score 11-10.
The Braves regained the lead when Macie Fleming scored four straight points to give the Braves a 14-13 lead. Seals found a way to get to the free-throw line to make a free-throw and tie the game at 14-14 going into the second quarter.
The Knights jumped out early in the second quarter when Condill made one of her free-throws and Nichols nailed a three-pointer to take an 18-14 lead.
The Braves responded by Maddie Kendall finding Anderson who nailed a three-pointer to cut the lead to 18-17. After a Knights score, Anderson came back down the court and nailed a step-back three-pointer to tie the game at 20-20. The Braves regained the lead when Kendall found Kalimantan Becker for an and-one layup who then made her free-throw to make the score 23-20.
The Knights ended the quarter on a 9-3 run to make the score 29-26 to end the second quarter.
The Knightsand Braves traded baskets to begin the third quarter. Seals started the scoring in the third quarter for the Knights making a layup to give the Knights a 31-26 lead.
Anderson cut into that lead finding Fleming for a layup and then in the next Braves possession made a driving layup to cut the Knights’ lead to 33-30.
Kailee Otto nailed a three-pointer that put the Knights up 36-30. The Braves rallied off five straight points with an Anderson three-pointer and a Fleming layup to cut the score to 38-35. The Knights ended the quarter on a 4-0 run to make it 42-35.
The Knights outscored the Braves 12-2 in the fourth quarter to make the final score 54-37. Anderson led the Braves with 14 points.
“Overall we competed,” Coach Marvel said. I was pleased with how we were overall with the 3-1 record and we were in this game until the fourth quarter. There was a lot of good things and I was proud of their effort, their intensity and how we got better.”
The Braves improve to 7-12 on the season. Coach Marvel said after his team returns from time off the focus will be ok defensive and offensive footwork and improving on their transition offense.