JONESBORO --- Marion head girls basketball coach Shunda Johnson always wants her teams to be playing their best ball in March at the state tournament. By all accounts, her club has done it again this season. The exclamation mark on Marion's redemption story came last Friday night at Blazer Gym at Valley View. The Lady Pats never trailed, especially dominating in the second half en route to a 51-41 victory over the Lady Blazers. The victory allowed Marion to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the 5A East with a 9-5 final mark, but the Lady Pats will be the No. 2 playoff seed in this week's state tournament in Bluff by virtue of owning the tiebreaker against Paragould and Nettleton. Marion tips its run at the Class 5A state tournament Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. against Russellville (22-8 overall, 9-5 5A West). Every Marion state tournament game will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network mobile app. Russellville downed Marion 64-56 in November in overtime in a non-conference game at Russellville. Marion (12-15 overall, 9-5 5A East) got past Valley View (8-18, 3-11) on the back of the Lady Pats' sterling defense. Marion forced 16 Lady Blazer turnovers while allowing the hosts to make just 11 of their 55 field goals. “We are definitely playing a lot better now than we had been,” said Johnson. “I'm proud of this one tonight because we had to battle and play for four quarters. We've come a long way in a short amount of time.” Marion junior point guard Ny'Asia Jackson paced the Lady Pats with 12 points and 6 assists, Aaliyah Taylor hit for 10 points, while Taylor Little and Brianna Dyson added 8 apiece. Morghan Weaver led all scorers with 20 points, but no other Lady Blazer scored more than Annika Willbanks' 7 points. Four Lady Patriots scored in the first period, including three-pointers from Dyson and Taylor, and Marion led 13-8 after eight minutes. Weaver tied the game at 14 midway through the second stanza, but Taylor's layup on Marion's ensuing possession gave the Lady Pats the lead for good. Marion led 18-16 at halftime. At the break, Marion had already forced nine Valley View turnovers and allowed the hosts to make just five of its 24 field goals, but the Lady Blazers stayed afloat by outrebounding Marion 20-16. Seven of the Valley View boards were offensive caroms. A pair of Weaver free throws got Valley View within a point with 5:37 left in the third, but from there, Marion forced turnovers on five straight Valley View possessions, and the visitors took advantage by embarking on a 10-0 run. The spurt started when Alyse Holliman split a pair of free throws, followed by layups from Jackson and Taylor. Jackson finished the run out with a pair of charities, and when she canned a mid-range jumper, the Lady Pats led 33-22, and 35-27 after three. "We had to switch up our defense," said Johnson. "They'd figured out how to attack us with the first few, and we executed the new one really well. That was a big point in the game." Valley View twice trimmed the Marion lead to six in the fourth quarter, but Marion hit the Lady Blazers with an 8-0 run that began when Taylor canned a jumper, followed by an Aya Johnson layup, and Jackson scored the last four points to stake Marion to a 45-31 lead with 4:18 remaining. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion plays Russellville (22-8 overall, 9-5 5A West) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1 in the Class 5A state basketball tournament's opening round in Pine Bluff. Every Marion state tournament game will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network mobile app. RUSSELLVILLE SERIES HISTORY It is widely believed that Marion and Russellville met for the first time in girls basketball at the 2016 Class 6A state tournament in Russellville. The Lady Cyclones escaped the Lady Pats 47-46 that day before advancing to that season's state title game. The script flipped the following year when 6A East champion Marion turned away a game Russellville team at the state tournament at Lake Hamilton. A back-and-forth battle ended with Marion turning away Russellville 51-50 in the quarterfinals en route to winning that season's state title with a 50-40 conquest of Sheridan in the final. Marion dominated the second half against Russellville in the 2021 quarterfinals at Hot Springs, erasing a halftime deficit to claim a 42-29 victory to qualify for the semifinals. Russellville evened the all-time series with Marion in November by earning a 54-46 victory in a non-conference game in overtime at home. FINAL 5A EAST STANDINGS W. Memphis 14-0 Marion 9-5 Paragould 9-5 Nettleton 9-5 Greene Co. Tech 6-8 Searcy 6-8 Valley View 3-11 Batesville 1-13 CLASS 5A STATE TOURNAMENT MATCHUPS Vilonia HS Lakeside 1:00 2/28 Siloam Springs Paragould 4:00 3/1 Benton Sylvan Hills 4:00 2/28 MARION Russellville 7:00 3/1 W. Memphis Mountain Home 7:00 2/28 Sheridan Little Rock Christian 1:00 3/2 Greenwood Nettleton 1:00 3/1 LR Parkview El Dorado 4:00 3/2