When Marion's basketball schedule came out, many pundits immediately noticed how front loaded the slate was, particularly for the girls team. Defending conference champion West Memphis, perennially strong Nettleton, and a vastly improved Searcy outfit represented the first three outings. Marion split its first two league contests at home ahead of Searcy's annual visit last Friday night. The Lady Pats took an early lead against the Lady Lions, who will host this year's Class 5A state tournament, but Searcy pulled away from Marion in a 53-40 league conquest at Fidelity Bank Arena. Searcy forced 17 Marion turnovers and limited the Lady Patriots to 31 percent shooting from the floor. "We just didn't do a very good job tonight following the game plan," said Marion coach Shunda Johnson, who guided the Lady Pats to the 2017 Class 6A state championship and played college basketball at Murray State. "We scouted them in the preseason and on film, and we knew who could handle, shoot, and score, and we just seemed to forget all that as soon as the game started. That's the frustrating thing as a coach." Searcy improved to 15-4 overall and 2-1 in the 5A East behind sophomore guard Chip Johnson's game-high 16 points and five assists, while junior London Flowers did her part with 15 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Sara McCain finished with 13 points and five boards. Marion tumbled to 9-7 overall and 1-2 in league action despite getting 10 points from sophomore Jada Cheers, seven from Madison Glaspie, and six points and seven rebounds from Maryah Rucks. Marion took its only lead of the night (3-2) on a Jalee Meeks three-pointer with 7:28 left in the first quarter, as Searcy promptly ripped off an 11-0 run. The spurt started with a McCain three-pointer for a 5-3 advantage, and Cadence Pettis continued it with a layup that she converted into a three-point play after sinking a free throw. A Flowers runner was followed by McCain's second triple of the first quarter that gave the Lady Lions a 13-3 lead that swelled to 19-6 after a quarter. Marion worked within 10 points late in the second period after back-to-back Rucks layups, but Searcy again closed out the frame with vigor, getting two runners in a row from Johnson and a free-throw line jumper by Pettis to take a 32-16 lead to the halftime locker room. The Lady Lions claimed their largest lead of the game following a Flowers stickback with 5:18 left in the third, as the visitors staked themselves to a 39-21 advantage, though four points apiece in the latter part of the frame from Z'Kya Cheers and Survanna Clay helped the Lady Pats get within 43-30 entering the fourth quarter. Marion got within 10 points two times in the fourth quarter, but Searcy had all the answers again as Pettis and McCain combined to score the Lady Lions' final five points to clinch victory. For the game, Searcy connected on 20 of its 40 field-goal attempts, including four of nine from three-point range. The Lady Lions also made eight of 10 free throws, while Marion managed just nine of 17 from the charity stripe. "We knew this first stretch was going to be vitally important," said Johnson. "We have a lot of time left, but we have to get back to playing the way we did earlier this season." WHAT'S NEXT? Marion's home date with Batesville originally scheduled for Tuesday night has been postponed due to the winter weather, but for now, Marion's 5A East road date at Greene County Tech is still on for Friday, January 19. That contest will be broadcast live on MarionPatriots.com and on the Marion Patriots Activities Network YouTube channel. Stay tuned to MPAN's socials for game updates all season long. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 1/12 Searcy 53, Marion 40 Greene Co. Tech 57, Valley View 41 Nettleton 55, W. Memphis 45 Batesville 53, Paragould 36 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 1/15 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Greene Co. Tech 3-0 Searcy 2-1 Valley View 2-1 W. Memphis 2-1 Marion 1-2 Batesville 1-2 Nettleton 1-2 Paragould 0-3 Top 4 teams make state tournament in Searcy