After trailing 11-4 early on the first quarter, the Bobcat defense helped Marshalltown surge ahead in the second quarter and held Waterloo East to just 10 points in the entire second half.

“It took us a while to adjust to the physicality and that’s not new so it wasn’t the first time this season,” Marshalltown head coach Brian Murphy said. “I thought we responded really well. We had some girls stepping up, absorbing contact and really denying the driving lanes. I really thought that was a big difference in the game. We took away their drives and then they really struggled a bit on offense and opened up the game for us.”

Marshalltown found momentum and went on an 8-3 run at the end of the first quarter to cut the lead down the deficit to 16-12. A key part in the run was Gabby Himes’ ability to score inside the paint which helped opened things for Marshalltown’s leading scorers, Erica Johnson and Madi Finch.

“Honestly what I saw was that we kind of mentally adjusted and we didn’t really change strategy,” Murphy said. “Basically the five players on the floor that they were going to turn it up a little bit. They really set the tone. We got a couple of steals in transition and that opened things up. We realized how aggressive we could be on defense. That really set the tone for the rest of the game.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Marshalltown’s Emma Younkin (22) shoots over Waterloo East’s Aariona Ezell (1) during the first half of Monday’s girls basketball game at the Roundhouse.

“What I felt really good about for one of the first times this season, I thought our court vision and our passing was really solid for most of the game. We were really anticipating spots that were open. There were a lot of gaps in that zone. Madi and Erica did a really good job of finding Gabby down there where she got a good position and found a spot and we were able to work the ball in and open some of those open players.”

The Bobcats’ momentum carried over in the second quarter as Marshalltown went on a 10-1 run to start the quarter. Johnson forced several turnovers in the run as she totaled six steals by the end of the night.

“I think we kind of pulled their zone apart and found the open gaps,” Johnson said. “We kept running the same play because we knew it was working. We were looking for the post and also the outside shots too. Finding the open spots was key. We just kept attacking and were getting to the free-throw line especially in the first half. That worked out well for us.”

Finch also found her groove in the quarter as she scored six of her 16 points in the quarter.

“Once we all start shooting it just makes it better,” Finch said. “It feels like everything comes together. Once Erica starts making them, other people start making them, it just all falls into place like a domino. That’s how it felt tonight.”

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

According to Murphy, the key part of the win was his team’s defensive aggressiveness. Marshalltown’s defense took away Waterloo East’s lanes and forced the Trojans to the free-throw line which benefited the Bobcats. In total, Waterloo East went 13-of-26 behind the line.

“We made a couple of small tweaks here and there but really what it came down to was each individual defender basically stepped and got more physical and aggressive on defense,” Murphy said. “That showed in the foul total a little bit. I’m ok with fouls of aggressiveness. They are not mistake fouls. They were trying to play tight defense. I can live with those.”

Marshalltown also reached the free-throw line significantly as the team was 14-of-19 behind the line with Johnson going 9-of-11.

“Erica really started to attack in that second quarter,” Murphy said. “That was a theme throughout the night where we kind of were starting to see those lanes and not giving the ball up. We were driving and absorbing the contact. We didn’t get to the line as much as I would like but we still managed to finish through with a lot of that contact.”

Johnson led the team with 19 points, while Himes finished with nine points in the Bobcats’ win.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

Marshalltown will host Fort Dodge (1-4) on Friday for its final game before winter break at 6:15 p.m.

“We needed a positive week to get us into the break,” Murphy said. “We had some really tough losses. We had at least two games that we felt like we should’ve won but we kind of let some mistakes derail us. I thought we did a really good of responding to some adversity tonight and generate some of that momentum and walk out feeling good about ourselves. Now we have to carry that into Friday because Fort Dodge is a big game for us. We need to make sure we learned a lot of lessons from this game and then we make sure we take that aggressive attitude into Friday.”

Marshalltown 54, Waterloo East 37

At Marshalltown

MHS (2-5) — Erica Johnson 5 9-11 19, Lily Roberts 0 1-2 1, Madi Finch 5 3-4 16, Priscila Vergara 1 0-0 3, Gabby Himes 4 1-2 9, Aida Almanza 0 0-0 0, Emma Younkin 0 0-0 0, Avygail Smith 0 0-0 0, Olivia Brintnall 3 0-0 6. TOTALS 19 14-19 54

WATERLOO EAST (0-5) — Shakieyah Taylor 1 0-0 2, Nijae Hunt 1 0-0 3, Aaliyah Franklin 3 7-14 13, Ma’kailya Johnson 3 0-4 6, Marshay Polk 0 2-2 2, Denay Saffold 3 1-2 8, Aariona Ezell 0 3-4 3, Sadie Jane Allen 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 11 13-26 37.

MHS 12 17 11 10 — 54

W. EAST 16 11 6 4 — 37

3-Point Goals–MHS 3 (Johnson, Finch, Vergara), WE 2 (Saffold, Hunt). Total Fouls–MHS 22, WE 21. Fouled Out–Himes, Franklin.