When last seen, Marion's basketball teams were playing perhaps their best hoops of the 2022-2023 season. Now, they have to hope that a 10-day break doesn't wreck their momentum. Following last week's ice storm, Marion's boys and girls teams face their most significant stretch of action this season. An NBA-style run of three games in four nights kicks off Tuesday night at Fidelity Bank Arena as Nettleton comes calling. The latest installment of Marion and West Memphis roundball takes place Wednesday night at Fidelity Bank Arena. Marion caps a crazy week of action Friday night with a trip to Searcy. Each girls game will tip at approximately 6 p.m., followed by the boys contest around 7:30. All three Marion basketball games this week will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network mobile app. The Marion girls are just 7-12 overall this year, but the Lady Pats boast a strong 4-3 mark in the 5A East on the heels of four straight victories in league play. Marion's top-ranked boys team has been on a tear since the calendar flipped to 2023, with the Patriots (18-6 overall, 7-0 5A East) logging a 7-1 mark in the new year. Tuesday's girls game is a rematch of a January contest that saw Nettleton (18-3, 6-2) erase a late fourth-quarter deficit by scoring the final five points of the contest in a three-point victory. Marion was able to get a pair of potential game-tying three-pointers off in the final eight seconds, but both were at least partially blocked to help the Lady Raiders earn a victory. Nettleton is currently tied with Paragould for the No. 2 playoff seed from the 5A East, and only the top four teams from each conference will qualify for the state tournament. Following the Nettleton game, Searcy downed Marion by three points to drop the Lady Pats to 0-3 in league action, threatening to leave the Lady Pats on the outside of the playoff picture. Marion circled the wagons since the Searcy defeat, turning its season around with four straight victories, including three by double digits. Marion's girls are currently 1.5 games ahead of Greene County Tech for the No. 4 playoff seed, and the Lady Pats defeated the Lady Eagles three weeks ago by six points. Marion has qualified for the state playoffs in nine of Coach Shunda Johnson's 10 seasons at the helm, and her teams have advanced to the semifinals four times, including the past two seasons. Johnson's 2017 team won the Class 6A state title, and the Lady Pats earned conference titles in 2017 and 2018. This season's state tournament will be held in Pine Bluff. Eight seniors have powered the Lady Patriots back into the playoff picture, but expectations for Marion's boys were all over the map in the preseason following the departure of two all-state performers and an all-conference baller of a season ago. Marion's record late in December was 6-5 following a tight December loss at Jonesboro. But playing that difficult November and December schedule has paid dividends for Coach David Clark's Patriots. Marion has won 11 of its last 13 games with both losses to two-time defending Class 5A state champion Jonesboro, which many expect to push for this year's Class 6A crown. Marion rose to the No. 1 spot in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's comprehensive weekly rankings in December and has not come close to relinquishing that spot. The Pats moved up two weeks ago to No. 5 in the ADG's overall Top 10 rankings, and the fighting Pats moved up two weeks ago to No. 6 overall in ScorebookLive's weekly rankings. The Marion boys' 7-0 start to league action has the Pats on the cusp of their first conference title since the 2019 squad earned the conference and state titles, but Tuesday's tilt with No. 3 Nettleton could alter those plans. Marion downed Nettleton 60-48 in early January at Raider Gym, but the Raiders (18-5, 7-1) have not been tested since then, easily dispatching the rest of the 5A East competition. Following the Nettleton clash, Marion has to bounce back quickly on Wednesday as the Pats host their Crittenden County rivals from West Memphis. Marion beat the Blue Devils (6-16, 3-4) by 10 points in the league opener on January 6, but West Memphis is in need of a true signature win to return to the state tournament. Marion has beaten West Memphis in nine of the last 10 meetings, including seven by double digits. THIS WEEK'S MARION BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Each game will be broadcast live onMarionPatriots.com Tuesday, February 7 vs. Nettleton Wednesday, February 8 vs. West Memphis Friday, February 10 at Searcy 5A EAST GIRLS STANDINGS AS OF FEBRUARY 6 (Top 4 make playoffs) SCHOOL CONF. RECORD W. Memphis 7-0 Nettleton 6-2 Paragould 6-2 Marion 4-3 Greene Co. Tech 3-5 Searcy 2-6 Valley View 2-6 Batesville 1-7 5A EAST BOYS STANDINGS AS OF FEBRUARY 6 (Top 4 make playoffs) SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Marion 7-0 Nettleton 7-1 Searcy 4-4 Paragould 4-4 W. Memphis 3-4 Valley View 3-5 Greene Co. Tech 2-6 Batesville 1-7