For most of Friday night's home date with league-leading Greene County Tech, the Marion Lady Patriots did enough to stay in the game. The biggest difference in Tech's 59-45 victory at Fidelity Bank Arena came on the glass, where the Lady Eagles (21-2 overall, 7-0 5A East) outboarded Marion 27-18, including eight offensive caroms, which helped the visitors shoot 53 percent of its shots. Marion (15-8, 5-2) got eight points apiece from Madison Glaspie and Ayanna Hayes, while Summer Morgan added seven. The Lady Eagles got a game-high 17 points from junior E'Marriah Johnson, while Weslyn Burnside added 12, and Sophia Gonzalez scored 10 points in the first half before exiting with injury. The first quarter was knotted at 12 apiece late in the frame when Johnson recorded an offensive rebound, drew a foul, and sank two free throws for a 14-12 lead and Tech led 16-13 after the game's initial 8 minutes. Tech scored 6 straight points late in the second period and took its largest lead of the first half on a Johnson runner with 2:20 left in the second stanza, and the Lady Eagles carried a 29-23 lead to halftime. Burnside turned an offensive rebound into a runner to give Tech a 9-point lead (38-29) with 2:05 left in the third, and the visitors took a 42-33 bulge to the fourth. Greene Co. Tech claimed its first double-digit lead of the night (48-37) when Johnson scored on a layup, and the Lady Eagles led by as many as 16 points late in the contest. WHAT'S NEXT? Marion returns to action on Friday night when the Patriots host West Memphis in a key 5A East matchup. Tipoff of the girls contest is scheduled for 6 p.m., while the boys game gets underway around 7:30 p.m. You can watch the varsity girls and boys contests for free on the MPAN YouTube channel, on MarionPatriots.com, or on the MPAN mobile app. RANKINGS RUNDOWN Marion checked in this week at No. 20 in ScoreBookLive.com's weekly Top 25 Overall rankings. 5A EAST RESULTS FROM 1/31 Greene Co. Tech 59, Marion 45 Valley View 60, Nettleton 46 W. Memphis 55, Paragould 26 Searcy 50, Batesville 43 5A EAST STANDINGS ON 2/3 SCHOOL CONF. RECORD Greene Co. Tech 7-0 Marion 5-2 Valley View 4-2 W. Memphis 4-3 Nettleton 2-4 Searcy 2-4 Batesville 2-4 Paragould 0-7 Top four teams make state tournament March 4-8 at Greene Co. Tech. 5A EAST GAMES ON 2/7 W. Memphis at Marion Valley View at Batesville Paragould at Greene Co. Tech Nettleton at Searcy