It wasn't the night they were expecting.

The Marion girls basketball team was confident after a 16-point victory over Waterloo Columbus in Waterloo earlier this season. But the Indians' Senior Night at home on Friday was taken over by Columbus freshman Kate Letkewicz, who scored 20 points, leading Columbus to a 51-40 win over Marion.

"Since they've last played us they have improved a lot and I don't think we really came out and expected that," said senior guard Leah Smith.

The game was fast-paced with the high-pressure style that has become the Indian girls' trademark. It was Columbus that was applying most of the pressure out of the gates, however, turning Marion over four times in the first six possessions and 29 times throughout the game.

 "The start is what hurt us," said Marion Coach Brian O'Donnell. "I thought Columbus came out much more aggressive. They got after a lot more loose balls.

"I thought we were sloppy with the ball early on, and we just dug ourselves in a hole."

After a sloppy start, the Marion girls were in a nine-point hole with 4:30 left in the first half.  The Indians started to find their groove and came storming back, tying the game just four minutes later before going in at the half down 36-34.

"We had some girls come off the bench and pick it up and light a spark for us," Smith said. "They helped us get back in it. It was good hustle by those girls."

Marion refused to let Columbus pull away for the rest of the game. For a while, the largest lead by either team was three points. But that widened to an 11-point final margin in the final two minutes.

Letkewicz led all scorers with 20 points, and Kim Bearbower and Rachel Schaefer each added nine for Columbus.

Kristin Kramer led the way for Marion with 11, including nine points in the second half.

With a high-octane, full-court press by both teams, much of the action was in transition as both teams got easy buckets off of turnovers.

"They kind of put pressure against pressure and just kind of pushed it back at us," Smith said. "I don't think we were expecting it to that extent, but at some point I think we expected them to come out and man us."

COLUMBUS (51): Kim Bearbower 1 3-4 9, Abby Greenwood 0 0-0 0, Lindsey MeManus 3 4-4 6, Emily Letkewicz 1 1-2 5, Kate Letkewicz 0 2-4 20, Regan McLaughlin 4 0-0 2, Megan Harn 0 0-0 0, Maddie Seymour 0 0-0 0, Isabel Hays
0 0-0 0, Carlie Sullivan 0 0-0 0, Tessa Swackes 0 0-0 0, Rachel Schaefer 3 1-6 9.

MARION (40): Leah Smith 4 0-0 5, Beth Knapp 0 0-0 0, Micaela Combs 2 2-2 4, Ashlin Korf 0 0-0 0, Jessie Kramer 2 1-2 7, Kristin Kramer 1 0-0 11, Brooke Cole 0 0-0 0, Dani Peyton 2 2-2 7, Ashley Kupka 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Jones 5 0-2 2, Alexis Timp 0 0-0 0, Allison Scott 2 0-0 2, Liz Deeney 0 0-0 0, Paige Perkins 2 0-0 2, Tori Pratt 0 0-0 0, Meghan Herren 0 0-0 0.