Marysville cages Falcons at Lesta

Marysville High's girls basketball team looked a little lost early on Wednesday night against visiting River Valley.

Maybe the Indians weren't accustomed to the surroundings inside Lesta Joubert Gymnasium after starting the season with 12 consecutive road contests. Or maybe Marysville just needed a little extra time to warm up in its home-opener.

Whatever the case may be, once the Indians snapped out of their daze, the Falcons could do nothing to stop Marysville's attack.

Trailing 17-10 heading into the second quarter, the Indians used a 18-2 run for a nine-point advantage at half and never looked back for a 62-40 victory. It was Marysville's highest-scoring game of the season and first victory since back-to-back wins on Dec. 1 and 2 at Gridley's Lady Bulldog Classic.

“We needed this home game,” Marysville coach Tony White-Betha said. “I told the girls don't take anything for granted just because River Valley hasn't been playing well because we haven't been playing well either. I said, ‘let's just take it a game at a time.'”

River Valley (1-10) didn't look line a one-win team during the opening five minutes, hitting seven of its first eight shots and causing havoc for Marysville with a scrappy defense. The Falcons also slammed the boards hard, outrebounding Marysville 9-2 in the quarter.

The Indians managed to make just 4 of 12 shots in an icy-cold start.

“We came out kind of slow, but then we settled down and started playing more defense. We went to a man, a zone and we kept switching it up to confuse them, so it worked out,” White-Betha said.

Marysville's tenacious defense, combined with River Valley's sudden inability to find the hoop, allowed the Indians to climb back from the seven-point, first-quarter deficit.

River Valley turned the ball over 11 times in the second quarter and the Indians were credited with eight steals. The Falcons hit a shot at the 7:41 mark and didn't convert another bucket until 1:17 remained in the first half.

In the meantime, Marysville used the play of senior post Breanna DeLuz and senior guard Yer Yang to jump ahead. DeLuz, who finished with a game-high 20 points, scored six points during the run, and Yang, who finished with 10 points, added six in the stretch.

“You can just tell they (the Indians) have the experience,” said River Valley coach Michelle Quist, adding that her nine-player team is comprised of two juniors and the rest sophomores and freshman. “They were consistent and they were going to come back at us, and we knew they were going to come back, so you just try to hold the lead.”

Marysville looked to DeLuz in the third period to hold its advantage, and she dropped in eight points, including seven straight for a 36-23 lead.

River Valley was held without a field goal for a 10-minute stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters. The Falcons hit just 2 of 6 free throw attempts during the drought. They were 4 of 18 from the free throw line in the game.

Marysville hit nine of its 10 free throws.

Sophomore Sarah Feddersen had 11 points for Marysville, and Thornton finished with 13 for River Valley.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Justin Miller can be reached at 749-4796. You may e-mail him at jmiller@appealdemocrat.com