Laube comfortable with Dad on bench

MARION — Mia Laube is new to varsity basketball. But having her father as a coach, that's old stuff.

'I've coached her for a long time, her and some of the other girls,' Marion Coach Corby Laube said. 'For me, it's pretty natural, pretty normal. It probably is for her, too.'

Normal enough, comfortable enough for Mia to call Corby something other than 'Coach.'

'I just call him Dad,' she said.

Mia Laube scored a game-high 21 points as cold-shooting Marion downed colder-shooting Benton Community, 48-41, in a Wamac Conference West Division girls' basketball game Tuesday night at Marion High School.

The Indians (11-4 overall, 6-2 division) remained a game behind Center Point-Urbana in the West Division standings.

'(A divisional championship), that's one of our goals,' Mia Laube said. 'But we're talking about taking one game at a time.'

Laube is part of a crew of three freshmen that start for the Indians — Chloe Rice and Caitlyn Smith are the others — but it's not like these girls are basketball rookies. They've played AAU ball for years, and Corby Laube has been involved with their progress the whole way.

An influx of ninth-graders can be received a number of ways. At Marion, it's gone the right way.

'From the start, the older girls have accepted the younger kids. They've been really good to them,' Coach Laube said. 'That's been a huge key for us.'

The Indians prevailed despite missing their first eight shots from the field and finishing at 31.8 percent (14 of 44). Benton (7-8, 5-3) hit just 13 of 54 shots, for 24.1 percent.

In the previous game, at Van Horne, Dec. 12, Marion breezed to a 54-25 romp. This time, the Bobcats were in it the whole way.

'We played good, but good isn't good enough any more,' said Benton Coach Laurie Donald. 'We have the opportunity to be great. The girls just have to get out of their own way to get there.'

Laube converted a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays in the final 90 seconds of the first half. The second one gave the Indians a 25-22 advantage at halftime, and they held a slim lead the rest of the way.

Lea Brunssen's hoop got Benton within 40-37 at the 2:00 mark, but Amanda Sahm hit 5 of 7 free throws in the next minute as Marion stretched it out again.

Sahm added 13 points for the winners, Smith tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Gabi Kuester paced Benton with 13 points and 11 boards.

MARION 48, BENTON COMMUNITY 41

At Marion

BENTON COMMUNITY (41): Gabi Kuester 3-17 7-9 13, Alyssa Wiebel 3-10 2-3 9, Lea Brunssen 1-3 4-6 6, Natalie Parizek 3-10 0-0 6, Jessica Heilman 2-7 0-0 4, Bailey Gallagher 1-6 0-0 2, Molly Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Shelby Schallau 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 13-54 14-20 41.

MARION (48): Chloe Rice 0-6 0-3 0, Caitlyn Smith 3-10 2-2 10, Amanda Sahm 4-9 5-7 13, Michalyn Mohr 1-4 1-2 3, Mia Laube 6-9 9-12 21, Tessa Jordan 0-2 0-0 0, Jozee Peyton 0-3 0-0 0, Isabella Sade 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 14-44 18-28 48.

Halftime: Marion 25, Benton 22. 3-point goals: Benton 1-5 (Kuester 0-1, Wiebel 1-3, Brunssen 0-1), Marion 2-14 (Rice 0-1, Smith 2-9, Sahm 0-1, Laube 0-1, Peyton 0-2). Team fouls: Benton 23, Marion 20. Fouled out: Heilman, Gallagher. Technical fouls: Marion bench. Rebounds: Benton 41 (Kuester, Parizek 11), Marion 38 (Smith 10). Assists: Benton 7 (Kuester 3), Marion 4 (Rice 3). Steals: Benton 6 (Wiebel 2), Marion 6 (Smith, Mohr 2). Turnovers: Benton 13, Marion 9.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com