Source: Hometown Life

Author: Marty Budner

While it's way to early to declare a Catholic League Central Division champion, Farmington Hills Mercy took a key step towards that crown Tuesday evening.

Playing on its home court in front of a large crowd, Mercy took down arch rival Bloomfield Hills Marian in a Central Division first-place showdown. Each team had entered the game tied for the lead after concluding the first half of the division schedule with identical 5-1 records.

The Marlins held on in the low-scoring, defensive-minded contest for a 33-30 victory. It marked Mercy's second win over its arch rivals this season, having defeated Marian earlier this year by a point, 44-43.

The victory left Mercy all alone atop the Central Division standings at 6-1 while the Mustangs fell into a tie for second place at 5-2 with Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard.

Mercy and Marian have five remaining division games, but Marlins head coach Gary Morris admitted it's nice heading into the second half of the Central Division schedule atop the standings.

"We just said that whoever wins (this game) basically is in the driver's seat, so to speak, for the Central, although it's not easy as proven," said Morris. "I mean our only Division loss was to Divine Child and that was their only win. And, the game was here.

"So, really that's how the league is," he said. "There are no gimmies, and if you're not ready, someone can get you on any given night. While we're happy to be 6-1, we know there is still a long way to go."

Still time to recover

Marian's veteran head coach Mary Cicerone, while disappointed in the outcome, reminded her players that there is still plenty of time left to recover from the three-point defeat.

"We're still in the hunt. I told the girls that look how awful we played on the offensive end or we could have won this game," said Cicerone. "And, I thought we played some great defense. We're going to make mistakes. We just have to find a way to put the ball in the basket."

The game, as expected, was close all the way between the evenly-matched squads.

Mercy jumped to an early 7-2 lead and held an 11-8 advantage after the opening quarter. Marian started the second quarter with its patented 1-2-2 press, caused a few Marlins miscues, and netted seven straight points en route to a 15-11 lead. Mercy rebounded nicely from the deficit and outscored Marian 8-3 over the next four minutes, capped by a late trey from All-Catholic senior guard Katie Coe, to take a slim 19-18 lead into halftime.

Mercy's Chloe Godbold, who sat most of the first half with foul trouble, netted her team's first six points on the second half on a conventional three-point play (basket and free throw) and a three point shot to lift her team into a 25-21 advantage. Mercy hung on to a 27-25 lead heading into the final quarter.

The teams combined for just 11 fourth-quarter points, six from Mercy which jumped to a 33-27 lead with 3:16 remaining in the game. Marian could counter with just three points -- all by sophomore guard Olivia Moore -- the rest of the way.

Cold-shooting Mustangs

Marian had its opportunities as it forced 25 Marlin turnovers in the game. However, the cold-shooting Mustangs had a tough time making baskets as they shot just 21 percent from the floor (11-51), including an 0-13 showing from the arch.

"You saw it. We just can't score. We can't make lay-ups. We can't make put-backs," said Cicerone. "We're in an offensive slump. And then we got stagnant.

"I thought our defense played well and we should have won the game with that effort," she said. "We just couldn't make a shot from anywhere."

Marian had just four players who scored, led by Moore's 12 points. Madeline Laurencelle and Uche Ike, who played strong at both ends of the floor but was saddled with foul trouble early in the fourth quarter and did not play much in the second half, each finished with seven points.

Godbold led Mercy with a game-high 15 points. Jackie Bauer was next with five points as seven different Marlins players dented the score sheet.

"It was a hard-fought game. I thought both teams had a lot of will," said Morris. "Obviously, I thought both teams would have liked to have played a lot better offensively, maybe taking better care of the ball at times. But, I'm real proud of how our team competed.

"Although we led most of the way, we were down at times," he said. "I'd say it was similar to the first game in that it was close. Fortunately, we had the lead late and we were able to hold on to it."

Both teams have Central Division road games on Friday -- Mercy's at Warren Regina and Marian at Divine Child.