Girls’ basketball notes: Marion back in its familiar home, atop the Wamac East

Marion High School’s girls’ basketball program has a new mascot, a new coach, a new identity.

And the same old success.

The Wolves clinched at least a share of their seventh consecutive Wamac Conference divisional championship Tuesday, topping Mount Vernon, 72-52.

“As a Marion guy, this is extra special to me,” said first-year head coach Henry Martinson, a 1993 graduate of the school. “I’m super happy.”

Marion is 10-5 overall, 7-1 in the Wamac East Division, and holds a 2 1/2-game lead on Solon (10-7, 4-3) and Mount Vernon (9-9, 4-3), with two divisional games to play.

The program’s run of championships began in 2015-16, when it shared the West Division title with Center Point-Urbana.

Marion won the West outright in 2016-17, then did the same the next three years in the East. Last year, Marion went 8-2 in the East and shared the title with Solon.

In Martinson’s mind, the Wolves’ fortunes swung after a non-divisional loss to Benton Community on Jan. 7.

“We took a step back that night. We were playing one-on-one basketball. The next day, we had a little team meeting. We hashed out that we hadn’t been playing how we’d been practicing all year.”

They won four of their next five games.

With the emergence of Mount Vernon and West Delaware this winter, there’s not a gimme in the Wamac East this year. And that makes the Wolves’ title bid this season all the more impressive.

Unlike its recent predecessors, this team doesn’t have a Division-I player (see: Chloe Rice, Kayba Laube, Riley Wright, Ella Van Weelden) to lean on.

“We’ve been a post-first offense this year, and that’s not what Marion had been,” Martinson said. “We don’t just want to get open shots, we want to get good shots.”

Sophomore guard Ava Attwood, a “fierce competitor,” according to Martinson, leads the Wolves at 11.3 points per game. Junior post Ella Bockenstedt adds 10.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per contest.

Senior long-range specialist Sadie Struchen, who was on Marion’s last state-tournament team — the Class 4A runner-up squad of 2019 — scores at a 9.4-point clip, including 26 against Mount Vernon.

One of Martinson’s first duties was to implement a run-and-jump press, bringing in a coach from Wisconsin-Stout to help install it.

“I’ve watched (1A power) Newell-Fonda, and I really liked their press,” Martinson said. “I thought we had the personnel to do it.”

Marion has two opportunities to clinch the divisional title outright; the first is Friday at home against Maquoketa.

It’s a Reid thing

Nick Reid, now Sara Reid. Both are the all-time leading scorers at Central City.

A senior, Sara Reid scored 27 points Friday in a win over Starmont, pushing her career total to 1,219. That’s tops in the school’s five-on-five history, surpassing Madison Tritle (1,211).

Her brother, Nick, owns the boys’ career record. He graduated in 2020 and now plays at Upper Iowa University.

Sara is averaging 17.9 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists. The Wildcats (11-6) are at Edgewood-Colesburg on Friday.

Bracket watch

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union plans to release postseason pairings Feb. 2 or 3 for Class 1A, Class 2A and Class 3A, Feb. 9 or 10 for the larger two classes.

Regionals begin Feb. 10 in 1A, Feb. 12 in 2A and 3A, Feb. 16 in 4A and 5A.

The state tournament is Feb. 28-March 5 at Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com