For one half, the Marion Lady Patriots went toe to toe with one of the state's top basketball programs. Marion led the defending Class 6A state champions 31-30 at halftime after forcing nine first-half Lady Wampus Cat turnovers in the first two quarters. But the visitors found their sea legs after the break, hitting the Lady Pats with a 15-0 run to open the third period, and despite a Marion fourth-quarter rally, Conway made plays late to close out a 69-56 victory over the Lady Pats inside Fidelity Bank Arena. "Everything you could do wrong we did wrong in the third period," said Marion coach Shunda Johnson. "Conway did a great job making shots, but we didn't get back in transition, we didn't rebound well, we didn't stay in front on defense. They made it tough on us to do all that, but we just got lost at times defensively in the third." "It didn't start off very pretty for us tonight," said Conway head coach Ashley Hutchcraft. "We'd played two games last weekend in Texas, and we're back on the road tonight against a good team, so we're a little road weary right now. I am proud of the way we responded tonight after halftime, obviously, we made some key adjustments, and the kids carried them out well." Conway (6-4 overall) junior Emerie Bohanaon led all scorers with 26 points, while Alexis Cox hit for 17 and Samyah Jordan poured in 13. Marion (5-2 overall) got 15 points and 8 rebounds from junior Joniya Lewis, while senior guard Ny'Asia Jackson hit for 13 points and 5 assists. Jada Cheers scored 9 points, and Madison Glaspie added 6. Conway led by as many as 3 points twice in the first period, the second time coming when Bohanon canned her first three-pointer of the night, but Marion rode a pair of Lewis layups from offensive rebounds, and a Jada Cheers layup to a 13-7 lead in the opening stanza, and the Lady Pats led 13-12 after one. The Lady Wampus Cats fashioned two more three-point leads in the second stanza as Marion played without Cheers, who had to sit with 3 fouls, but when junior Mariyah Rucks scored in the paint with 17.2 seconds left in the first half, the hosts led 31-30 at halftime and hit the lockers with momentum. "We were playing gritty and really fought on defense," said Johnson. "We just started to lose their shooters more in the second half." After the break, Conway connected on 5 of 12 three-pointers, and that run began when Amyia Taylor connected from deep with 6:37 left in the third period for a 35-31 advantage. Conway earned its first double-digit lead of the night when Traniyah Weston came up with a steal near midcourt and finished for a layup and a 41-31 lead with 4:38 left in the third, and the Conway run culminated at 45-31 with a Bohanon layup with 4:06 left in the third. "I think it started with defensive adjustments at halftime," said Hutchcraft. "We couldn't do much in our man or our 1-3-1 zone in the first half, so we switched it up. I thought the kids did a great job getting deflections, being aggressive, and pushing the ball in transition." Seven Marion turnovers and a fire-hot 10-of-16- shooting performance in the third period allowed Conway to lead 52-39 after three quarters. But Marion opened the fourth period on a 9-2 push that peaked when Cheers hit a layup, and the Lady Pats were within 54-48 with 5:37 remaining in regulation. A pair of Lewis free throws got the hosts within 55-50 with 4:44 left, but Cox answered with a three-pointer to push the lead back to 8. Following a layup by Marion's Ayanna Hayes, Conway scored 6 points in a row for a 64-52 lead with 2:13 remaining. "Marion is scrappy and always plays really hard," said Hutchcraft. "I was not surprised that they made another run, but it's also a credit to our kids working through that and getting a big win." WHAT'S NEXT? The Marion girls return to action on Friday, December 8 at Hutchinson School in Memphis, Tennessee. The junior varsity girls contest will tip at 4:30 p.m., followed by the varsity game. Over the Christmas break, Marion will compete at the Bryant (Arkansas) tournament, and then the Sandra Meadows Classic in Duncanville, Texas. Marion returns home on Friday, January 5 when the Lady Pats host West Memphis for the conference opener.