Marion Home

One final heartbreak for Marion girls

It happened again to the Heartbreak Kids.

For the eighth time this year, and the second in the last four days, the Marion girls lost by six points or less.

On Wednesday night,  in their home gym, the Indians fell to arch-rival Anamosa 35-31 in overtime .

The loss in the first round of a Class 3A regional ends Marion’s season with a deceiving 6-16 record.

The 12-10 Raiders, meanwhile, move on to play at second-ranked Mount Vernon (20-2) Saturday night in a regional semifinal. The Mustangs crushed Center Point-Urbana 64-32 last night.

Mount Vernon has beaten Anamosa twice already in the regular Wamac conference season, 68-26 in January and 59-34 10 days ago.

As he’s pointed out before, most recently last Saturday after a last-minute 50-49 defeat at Kennedy, Marion Coach Brian O’Donnell said Wednesday’s disappointing result could not be blamed on a lack of effort or desire.

“It’s been the story of our season that we work hard and with tremendous heart but come up a little short. Losing so many close ones has been tough. But the girls gave it everything they had every game.”

In their previous meeting in early December, Anamosa barely prevailed 27-25.

Raiders Coach Jack Leighty employed the same winning strategy in the rematch.

“With our size advantage upfront, we used a 2-3 zone to try to keep the ball out of the paint. We knew we'd give them some good looks outside. Lucky for us, they didn’t fall.”

Usually sharp from behind the arc, the Indians made only two 3-pointers.

Read more...

Heartfelt win for Marion boys

It was all about heart for the Marion boys Tuesday night.

Greg Van Gorp, a fixture at the scorer’s table who finds it hard to stifle cheering for the home team, was rushed to the hospital early Tuesday morning after suffering a heart attack at home.

As he was recovering from surgery last night, the Indians rallied from a slim halftime lead to roll over Maquoketa, 70-55.

No one played with more heart than Van Gorp’s son Dan, one of seven players honored on Senior Night before the final regular season game.

And his dad got to see and hear it all from start to finish, with television monitors hooked up in the gym and his St. Luke’s room and connected by computer.

The team even gathered around the set before tip-off to offer get well greetings.

“I was really, really touched,” Van Gorp, 52, an executive with Aegon and a member of the Marion Independent school board, said afterward.

“I hated to miss the game, especially with Dan and the others on Senior Night. It meant a lot for me to be part of it. I want to thank the whole Marion family.”

Read more...

Paige looking forward to Hawkeyes game

A talented basketball player named Paige has an important game in Iowa Wednesday night.

Morgan, not Marcus.

Linn-Mar junior Marcus Paige has been in the news a lot this season, leading the top-ranked Lions through an undefeated campaign and committing to North Carolina, but his big sister will take center stage Wednesday when Wisconsin visits Iowa for a Big Ten game in Iowa City.

Morgan, a 5-foot-9 freshman, is averaging 3.4 points for the Badgers, who are just one game out of first place in the Big Ten standings. She started 10 games earlier in the season due to injuries, but is a top reserve at this point.

Linn-Mar does not play Wednesday, and Morgan expects to see a lot of familiar faces in the stands at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"I can't even tell you how excited I am," she said. "All my friends and family will be at that game. I'm just really excited."

Read more...

Marion girls take Cougars to the wire

Somebody forgot to tell the spunky Marion girls it was supposed to be rollover for Roloff Saturday night at the Kennedy gym.

Veteran Cougar Coach Dennis Roloff was going for his 300th win in a 20-year career at the school. Not many figured the party would be spoiled by a middle-of-the-pack 6-14 team from the Class 3A Wamac conference.

But it took a couple of improbable turn of events in the last 37.5 seconds of a roller coaster game for Kennedy (8-13)  to escape with a 50-49 near-miracle victory.

Roloff himself wasn’t one of those who thought the big school/small school match-up would be in the bag.

“They’re very well coached,” he said after a post-game celebration at midcourt.

“We knew their kids would come ready to play and play hard. And for 31 minutes and 30 seconds or so, they played wonderful.”

Read more...