Some people may have felt as though the Marion Lady Patriot basketball team let a ballgame get away last month in a two-point loss at Valley View. The Lady Pats led by as many as 16 points early in the fourth quarter that night at Blazer Arena but struggled offensively from there, allowing Valley View to rally to victory. Marion righted the wrong on Tuesday night, rallying past the Lady Blazers at Fidelity Bank Arena, taking down a 71-60 victory that helped MHS earn a season split with Valley View, but the Lady Patriots will earn the tiebreaker against Valley View on the margin of victory against each other. The Lady Pats improved to 20-9 overall and 10-3 in the 5A East by holding their visitors to just one of 10 shots from the field in the third quarter, and Marion forced 11 turnovers after halftime to erase a 31-26 deficit at the break. Marion sophomore Summer Morgan led the Lady Patriot charge with 24 points, while Joniya Lewis added 16, and Jada Cheers scored eight. Valley View tumbled to 22-6 overall and 9-4 in the league despite getting 24 points from Bonnie Fagan, and Annika Wilbanks and Allanah Orsby chipped in 11 points apiece. The Lady Patriots made half of their 14 field goals in the first quarter to claim a slim 14-12 lead after eight minutes. Five Marion players scored in the first quarter, with Lewis and Morgan hitting four points apiece. Valley View found the range in the second stanza, making half of its 12 attempts, including three of five from three-point range, and when the Lady Blazers did not make a three-pointer, Orsby drew fouls on two of her attempts from distance, making four of six charities as the visitors took that 31-26 halftime advantage. But that's when Marion ramped up on defense, allowing Valley View to make just four of its 19 second-half field goal attempts. Lewis gave Marion the lead for good with 2:12 left in the third when she turned an offensive rebound into a layup that gave the Lady Pats a 43-42 advantage, and the hosts led 52-46 after three. Marion iced the game in the fourth period by making 10 of its 13 free throws. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion concludes its 2024-2025 regular season on Friday night when the Patriots travel to play Greene County Tech in Paragould. The varsity girls game will tip around 6 p.m., followed by the varsity boys around 7:30, and you can watch both games for free at the MPAN YouTube channel, at MarionPatriots.com, or on the MPAN mobile app. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 2/25 Marion 71, Valley View 60 Greene Co. Tech 72, Batesville 52 Nettleton 64, Paragould 34 W. Memphis 52, Searcy 30 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 2/26 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Greene Co. Tech 13-0*+ Marion 10-3* Valley View 9-4* Nettleton 8-5* W. Memphis 6-7 Searcy 3-10 Batesville 3-10 Paragould 0-13 *cliched state tournament spot +clinched the conference title and No. 1 playoff seed 5A EAST GAMES ON 2/28 Marion at Greene Co. Tech Nettleton at Valley View W. Memphis at Paragould Searcy at Batesville