By JIM WALKER

Tribune Sports Editor

ATHENS — Judging by the South Point Lady Pointers performance Saturday, this one could be dubbed, “The Great Escape.”

Everything the Lady Pointers did well this season escaped them as they lost 68-51 to the Marietta Lady Tigers in the Division II district championship game.

“We didn’t get out and run with the ball, we didn’t rebound well, and we didn’t shoot well,” said Lady Pointers’ coach Dave Adams.

South Point (19-4) shot 19 of 51 from the field for 37 percent and hit only 4 of 18 from behind the arc.

They were also out-rebounded 38-28 with Marietta grabbing 15 off the offensive glass.

“Marietta played really hard. They were well-prepared and executed their game plan and we didn’t,” said Adams.

Marietta (22-2) began the game with a 7-0 run and led 16-8 at the end of the quarter as Megan Grosel scored seven points. South Point connected on just 4 of 13 shots and was guilty of five turnovers.

“They had that first run early. We got back in it, but our girls felt like they had to get something done in a hurry and we could never slow them down,” said Adams.

A 3-point by Groesel opened up a 22-12 lead, but a baseline jumper by Kimmie Bennett and a 3-pointer by Kayla Fletcher cut the deficit to 24-19 with 3:08 left in the half.

Jalynn Bradburn made a layup with 15 seconds on the clock to get the Lady Pointers within 32-23 only to have Grosel drain another triple and Marietta was up 35-23 at the half.

“I don’t think anybody thought we could run on them,” said Marietta coach Scott Cozzens. “We have tremendous athletes and there is no reason not to let them do what they do best.”

South Point kept coming back in the third quarter. Down 42-30, Fletcher made two foul shots and hit a trifecta and Bennett’s 15-footer got the deficit to 42-37 at the 1:29 mark.

But Grosel hit a couple of mid-range shots and Marietta was back up 46-38 at the end of the quarter.

“We just couldn’t get over the hump. Every time we got close, they would answer,” said Adams.

A 3-point play by Allison Mitchell and a layup by Bradburn got South Point with 48-43 with 5:24 to play.

But again Marietta answered as Grosel made a layup and then Erica Dawson went to work. Dawson had five of her seven steals in the fourth quarter and she scored 12 points in the quarter as Marietta began to pull away.

Dawson finished with 28 points and Grosel 21.

Fletcher scored 19 points to lead South Point with Bradburn adding 15 points, five assists and two steals.

“It’s been a great run for our these seniors. I hate for it to end like this. We were due for a bad game, I just didn’t want it to be here,” said Adams.

Marietta 16 19 11 22 = 68

South Point 8 15 15 13 = 51

MARIETTA (22-2): Megan Grosel 6 3 0-0 21, Erica Dawson 10 1 5-9 28, Betsy Schramm 2 0 0-1 4, Amanda Brown 0 0 4-5 4, Ali Summers 1 0 1-2 3, Lisa Borton 0 2 0-0 6, Elizabeth Stoll 1 0 0-0 2, Alexis Walsh 0 0 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Cozzens 0 0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-54 10-17 68. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 6-17. Rebounds: 15 offense, 23 defense = 38 (Schramm 9, Summers 7, Dawson 6). Team rebounds: 1. Assists: 8 (Brown 3). Steals: 15 (Dawson 7, Grosel 3). Turnovers: 19.

SOUTH POINT (19-4): Allison Mitchell 3 0 3-5 9, Erin Dillow 0 0 2-4 2, Kalya Fletcher 4 3 2-2 19, Kimmie Bennett 2 0 0-0 4, Jalynn Bradburn 5 1 2-2 15, Angelica Stewart 0 0 0-0 0, Aundrea Bradburn 1 0 0-0 2. Totals: 19-51, 8-13 51. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: None. 3-point goals: 4-18. Rebounds: 10 offense, 19 defense = 29 (Mitchell, Fletcher, Bennett 6 each). Team rebounds: 3. Assists: 8 (J. Bradburn 5, Fletcher 2). Steals: 8 (Mitchell 3, J. Bradburn 2, Dillow 2). Turnovers: 24.