T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Marshalltown senior Priscila Vergara drives past Des Moines East defender Hannah Oleson (12) during the first half of Friday’s game at the Roundhouse. Des Moines East won the game 47-31.

The Marshalltown girls’ basketball team dropped its home opener to Des Moines East 47-31.

The difference in the night was each team’s ability to run the full-court press and breakthrough the full-court press.

“I think there were definitely moments where we played the way we wanted to,” Marshalltown head coach Brian Murphy said. “I thought our half-court defense had stints where we really guarded the paint and we knew coming in that their offense was going to spread us out and drive hard. We did a really good job protecting the paint at times but I think that the press wore us down both mentally and physically. At the end of the game, those driving lanes were getting a lot wider because we weren’t getting into position fast enough. We definitely had moments but I think we had a balance of self-inflicted issues and kudos to them for knocking down five three’s.”

After trailing 6-3 at the end of the first quarter, Marshalltown tied the game 9-9 midway through the second quarter. The Scarlets created space with a 7-0 run before Marshalltown knocked in a pair of buckets before the half to trail 18-12 at the end of the first half.

It was in the third quarter Marshalltown had its best opportunity to seize control of the game. The Bobcats made it a one-possession game at the start of the game with Erica Johnson being successful on the free-throw line and finding a bucket to cut the deficit to 18-16.

At the same time, the Bobcats switched into a press defense which helped Marshalltown force 14 steals by the end of the night. However, Des Moines East switched into a full-court press that caused too much pressure for Marshalltown’s offense as the Bobcats coughed up 22 turnovers at the end of the night. The Scarlets pulled away late with a 9-2 run in the quarter to take a 34-21 lead.

“Midway through the third quarter, we were able to get our press in and we made a little bit of a run and cut it within three or four and momentum was on our side,” Murphy said. “But there were a couple of those where we weren’t quite able to convert with the ball in the open court and just got a little ahead of Madi and couldn’t convert there. There were one or two spots that if you get a couple of more buckets and tie the game up it’s a whole different ball game. We just weren’t able to convent and turned the ball over and it’s back to [trailing] five or seven. I feel like we didn’t recover from that.”

The Bobcats could not regain the momentum lost and were outscored 16-7 in the fourth quarter.

“The stat that jumps off to me is that we shot one free throw in the fourth quarter,” Murphy said. “Obviously there were some calls we’d love to get but the reality is you have drive to the rim to earn some of those calls and I thought toward the end there whether it was fatigue or we made the decision not to I don’t think we fought to get into the lane as hard as we had earlier in the game.”

Leading the team Johnson who a team-high of nine points and 10 rebounds. Madi Finch and Gabby Himes each scored seven points while combining for five steals.

“I thought Erica and Madi shared a lot of composure when we were both in the press and breaking the press and getting us set back up,” Murphy said. “Gabby was great down there on the glass, was scrappy and was fighting for the ball. Overall, I think everyone had moments.

“I think there were some positives to take away. I thought our half-court defense had moments where we really played together as a unit. Offensively, we got there eventually but it can’t take us two and a half quarters to get warmed up. We needed to be a little bit more aggressive of when to shoot but we hesitated just long to where we couldn’t get that shot up in time. Offensively we just need to keep trusting in our shot and each other.”

Marshalltown will travel to play Des Moines North on Tuesday.

Des Moines East 47, Marshalltown 31

At Marshalltown

DM EAST (1-2) — Alexis Brown 1 0-0 2, Alea Hoof 2 2-6 6, Hannah Oleson 3 3-5 11, Rachel Puok 4 3-4 12, Lyric Sellers 6 0-0 14 Renni Dyer 0 0-0 0, Brecklin Williams 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 16 8-15 47.

MHS (1-2) — Erica Johnson 3 3-6 9, Lily Roberts 2 0-0 5, Madi Finch 2 3-4 7, Priscilla Vergara 1 0-0 3, Gabby Himes 3 1-4 7, Aida Almanza 0 0-0 0, Avygail Smith 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 11 7-14 31.

DM East 6 12 13 16 — 47

MHS 3 9 12 7 — 31

3-Point Goals–Des Moines East 5 (Oleson 2, Sellers 2, Puok), Marshalltown 2 (Roberts, Vergara). Total Fouls–Des Moines East 14, Marshalltown 15. Fouled Out–Finch.