The Marshalltown girls’ basketball team earned the lead that allowed them to not have to score in the fourth quarter to beat South Tama.

That wasn’t exactly the plan, however.

The Bobcats tipped off the new year with a win over South Tama for the third season in a row, stopping the Trojans 30-21 on Tuesday night inside the Roundhouse.

Marshalltown scored the first basket of the second half to take an 11-point lead, but the Bobcats saw their advantage cut to five before the night was through.

MHS went the first six and a half minutes of the fourth quarter without scoring, but the visiting Trojans (0-1) didn’t score for the final four minutes of the game to ruin their comeback attempt.

Kinsley Bowie’s 2-for-2 free-throw effort with 1:31 remaining got the Bobcats on the board for the first time in the final period, and two more freebies from Millie Heitmann accounted for the final score.

Marshalltown led 26-17 entering the fourth quarter but turned the ball over five times in the final frame while going 4-for-8 from the charity stripe. The Bobcats finished with 27 turnovers but still held on for the win.

“A lot of details went right, but a lot of big things did not,” said MHS head coach Brian Murphy. “We said if we want to be the type of team we believe we can be, it’s the little things that we’re going to have to execute. And I thought some of the big things like shots going in didn’t happen.”

Frankie Long scored a game-high eight points go go with eight rebounds, Millie Heitmann had seven points and 15 rebounds, and Jorja Janssen added three points and 10 boards as the taller Bobcats took advantage of their greatest asset — their height.

“We knew they were going to try to take Frankie away,” said Murphy. “I was surprised they didn’t start the game with more of a doubling mentality.”

Both team’s plans took on water and started sinking with early foul trouble, but Marshalltown endured the best. STC senior forward Rylee Ridout got her second foul 2:12 into the game and didn’t play again until the second half.

Long got three fouls in a three-minute span, including her fourth with 1:30 left in the first half, but the Bobcats held on.

“Certainly there was a swing of, I would say, officiating in that game where we had to recalibrate on the fly, and that was important,” Murphy said. “It was a little bit touchy in the first half and then suddenly it was very physical in the second half, and it’s good practice of mental resilience and being flexible and I thought we got there eventually.”

Four of the seven Bobcats who played got to four personal fouls, but none of them fouled out.

Amairra Johnson had six points and three steals for MHS, and Bowie added five points and a blocked shot.

The Bobcats visit Des Moines Lincoln next Tuesday to start a three-game week.

Marshalltown 30, South Tama 21

SOUTH TAMA (0-1) — Olivia Hala 1 3-4 5, Scout Ridout 1 1-2 3, Mady Boriskey 0 0-2 0, Rylee Ridout 3 0-0 6, Dyan Keahna 2 1-3 5, Paige Croskey 0 0-0 0, Taylor Dolezal 0 0-0 0, Cahysia Kapayou 1 1-2 3, Paityn Yuska 0 0-2 0. TOTALS 8 5-15 21.

MARSHALLTOWN (1-0) — Amairra Johnson 3 0-0 6, Kinsley Bowie 1 2-2 5, Millie Heitmann 2 2-4 7, Jorja Janssen 0 3-6 3, Frankie Long 3 2-5 8, Mallory Meyeraan 0 0-0 0, Morgan Hilderbrand 0 1-2 1. TOTALS 9 10-19 30.

STC 6 4 7 4 — 21

MHS 13 6 7 4 — 30

3-Point Goals–MHS 2 (Bowie, Heitmann). Team Fouls–STC 23, MHS 20. Fouled Out–Keahna.