BATESVILLE --- It was a long off-season for the Marion girls basketball team after missing the state tournament last spring by losing out on a tiebreaker for the final playoff spot. On Saturday afternoon, Marion completed its journey. In a rescheduled conference game from Friday evening, Marion erased an early 9-4 lead inside Batesville's Pioneer Gymnasium to pull away for an 86-66 road victory that marks Marion's highest-scoring game so far for the 2024-2025 basketball season. Marion (19-9 overall, 9-3 5A East) set up a crucial Tuesday home date with Valley View (23-5, 9-3) by forcing 24 Batesville turnovers, turning many of them into quick points to spark the Lady Patriot rally. The visitors put five players in double-digits at Batesville, led by Joniya Lewis's team-high 21 points and 12 rebounds, while Ayanna Hayes scored 16, Summer Morgan finished with 12 points, Madison Glaspie and Jada Cheers pumped in 11 points apiece. Batesville (10-15, 3-9) got a massive game from Briley Pulliam, who scored 28 points with eight rebounds, Melanie Hendrix scored 14 points with five assists, and Serenity Patterson hit for nine. The Lady Pioneers staged the early lead by limiting Marion to one shot, but the Lady Patriots sped the game up by forcing 5 Batesville turnovers after falling behind 9-4, and Marion finished the first quarter out on a 16-5 run to lead 20-14 after 8 minutes. Marion claimed its first double-digit lead of the afternoon with 5:35 left in the second quarter when Hayes hit Maryah Rucks for a layup and a 30-19 Patriot advantage. The Lady Patriot full-court press harassed Batesville into 10 second-quarter turnovers, while Marion also outrebounded Batesville 13-3 in the same frame and the visitors led 46-26 at halftime. Pulliam kept Batesville afloat, scoring 11 in the third period alone, but Marion made 11 of 14 free throws in the same time frame to carry a 68-50 lead to the fourth quarter. Marion took an 82-61 lead with 1:34 left in regulation following a Cheers stickback, signaling the Lady Patriots' largest lead of the fourth quarter. Marion has clinched its spot in the state tournament, but the Lady Patriots can still finish as high as the No. 2 playoff seed should MHS win out and earn the tiebreaker from Valley View on Tuesday night. Valley View won the first meeting with Marion in January by two points. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion hosts Valley View on Tuesday evening at Fidelity Bank Arena for Senior Night. The varsity girls game will tip around 6 p.m., followed by the varsity boys game around 7:30. You can watch the varsity girls and boys games against Valley View, as well as Senior Night festivities, for free on the MPAN YouTube channel, at MarionPatriots.com, or on the MPAN mobile app. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 2/21-2/22 Marion 86, Batesville 66 Greene Co. Tech 48, Valley View 40 Searcy 61, Paragould 44 W. Memphis-Nettleton game played 2/24 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 2/24 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Greene Co. Tech 12-0*+ Valley View 9-3* Marion 9-3* Nettleton 6-5 W. Memphis 5-6 Searcy 3-9 Batesville 3-9 Paragould 0-12 *clinched spot in state tournament +clinched conference title and No. 1 playoff seed 5A EAST GAMES ON 2/25 Valley View at Marion Batesville at Greene Co. Tech W. Memphis at Searcy Paragould at Nettleton