Martin girls had to overcome an astonishingly terrible offensive second quarter swoon, a surprising opponent with only seven players and just 24 students in the school altogether and a pretty good 5-11 senior center to come out on top in its district opener.
The Lady Clippers subdued Wyoming West Michigan Lutheran 52-42 Wednesday night to punch their ticket to the Class D district finals on their home court at 6:30 p.m. Friday against Lawrence.
The game certainly wasn’t pretty and at times it could be downright weird.
Martin streaked to a 13-4 advantage at the end of the first quarter and went up 17-7 on a three-point bomb by Briana Warner with about six minutes left in the second period. But that would be the last field goal until intermission.
Meanwhile, the Mustangs, reeling from turnovers and defensive pressure in the backcourt, somehow found a way to not only sneak back into the ballgame, but dared to take a slim two-point lead at the half, 19-17. They got a couple of steals and layups from guard Hailey Stasiuknas and a lot of inside baskets by center Payton Godbold.
The Lady Clippers’ offense was virtually dormant in that eight-minute span. They were missing a lot of easy layups, forcing the ball to cause turnovers and they missed the rebounding of Freddie Elkins, who was on the bench with foul trouble.
But they grimly got to work early in the third quarter when junior forward Faith Guritz scored inside and swished a free throw to give Martin a 22-19 lead it did not relinquish for the rest of the evening. They slowly began to pull away, thanks to Guritz and the sisters Warner, Briana and Kiaya.
Martin’s defense was in on the surge by holding Lutheran to just one field goal and three free throws in the entire third period. As the final eight minutes began, Martin had mounted a 37-24 cushion and coasted the rest of the way. It didn’t hurt that Godbold was whistled for her fourth foul with 2:06 left in the third quarter and had to sit a spell.
But the Lady Clippers were found guilty of way too many fouls, as many as 20 in the second half, permitting the Mustangs to hang around. It was very fortunate they made only 18 of 37 at the line. Godbold netted 11 of her 16 attempts, meaning the rest of the team collectively managed only 7 of 21 for a dismal 33 percent.
Martin made just eight of 19 free throw attempts, checking in at 42%.
Briana Warner drilled a couple of threes and scored a lot on breakaway layups, finishing with 15 points. Sister Kiaya scored 13 points and Guritz had 10 points and eight rebounds. Jaclyn Hildebrand dished out five assists and Kiaya Warner had four.
Payton Godbold took individual scoring honors with 20 points. Stasiukinas added nine for West Michigan Lutheran, which finished the season with an overall record of 15-7.
Martin, now 16-3 on the season overall, with two of its losses coming at the hands of Class C unbeaten Gobles, will play a 4-15 Lawrence team Friday night. The Tigers edged Zion Christian 30-28 to move into the final round.
COVER PHOTO: Jordyn Seiser (21) seems to be getting ahead of herself on the fast break.