Moberly Splits Marshall on Spartans Courtwarming Night

The Moberly Spartans played to a split on courtwarming night to the Marshall Owls Tuesday.

In the girls contest, the Lady Spartans came back from a 9-1 first quarter deficit for a 38-32 conference win. Moberly was able to gain momentum and tie the game going into halftime.

Lucas Smith with the call of Alessia Oliver’s buzzer-beating-layup on KWIX and centralmoinfo.com.

The senior post ended up with eight points. Moberly was led in scoring by senior Mary Billington with 21 points, 11 of them coming in the 4th quarter. Only two other Lady Spartans cracked the scorebook, with freshman Kennedy Messer scoring eight and senior Lauren Koenig scoring two.

After trailing 9-1, Moberly went on a 17-2 run midway through the game which included a 7-0 run to start the second half. The Lady Owls then responded with an 8-0 run. After that point, the teams traded buckets until the Koenig score, putting Moberly up for good.

Moberly head coach Tony Vestal highlighted what changed after a sluggish start.

Marshall was paced in scoring by senior Hannah Pomeranke with 11, followed by junior Kate Donnell with nine. The Lady Owls zone defense gave Moberly problems for the majority of the first half, as Moberly was unable to get a field goal until the second quarter.

Moberly improves to 10-8 overall and 3-2 in the NCMC, while the Lady Owls fall to 10-6 overall, and 2-2 in conference play. Marshall hosts Mexico this Friday, while the Lady Spartans will travel to Battle for a non-conference contest.

In the boys game, Marshall snapped a nine game losing streak by defeating Moberly 60-52. The two schools were tied at 13 after the first quarter. The Owls stretched the lead to five at the half and maintained the lead in the third quarter. In the final frame, the Spartans battled back to within one before Marshall’s Jace Lance hit a long three to the extend the lead to four. Moberly drops to 2-15 on the year and have lost five in a row. Coach Cord Hagedorn said his team’s effort was there, but there weren’t enough winning plays.

Marshall’s Caden Craft came off the bench and scored a team-high 14 points. The Owls improve to 3-12 and are now 2-2 in the conference. Spartan sophomore Jaisten Payne scored a game-high 16 points as Moberly drops to 0-5 in the NCMC. The Spartans have the rest of the week off before hosting Kirksville next Tuesday. Hear full postgame interviews online at centralmoinfo.com.

Moberly girls coach Tony Vestal:

Moberly boys coach Cord Hagedorn: