Martin's Big Night Carries Lafayette past Marquette in Girls Basketball

In a Suburban West Conference face-off between rival high school girls' basketball teams, Lafayette and Marquette battled closely into the game’s final minute.

But it was the who found the way to win, with five free throws in the last 30 seconds for a 54-49 win.

The boys game followed, so a much larger home crowd than usual was on hand to see Lancers' junior Jordynn Martin nail two foul shots to break a 49-49 tie. The win lifts Lafayette to 8-6 overall and 2-1 in conference play. The Mustangs are now 9-5 and 0-2.

“When it’s a rivalry game,” Lafayette head coach Jennifer Porter said, “it doesn’t matter what your records are or what the previous scores were. Whoever digs deeper, finds some energy, finds some heart, and can make that extra play will win, and I think we did that tonight.”

Martin was sent to the free-throw line after struggling to break free from a double team after a Lancers' timeout with 33 seconds left in the game. She hit her two foul shots. Traveling was then called on the Mustangs, which gave possession back to the Lancers. Three more free throws, two by junior Kayla Hall and one more from Martin, sealed the game.

“We’ve been preparing for this game for a long time,” Martin said. “It was totally a team effort.”

Martin experienced a surprise in the second quarter after she made a shot. Play was stopped to award her a game ball for reaching 1,000 career points. She finished with a game-high 26 points and Hall added 13.

After one period, Lafayette led 16-12 as Martin contributed two 3-pointers. Sophomore guard Ashley Ploudre came out strong with 10 points in the first quarter for Marquette.

At the half, it was 32-25 for the Lancers.

Ploudre scored a game-high 24 points, sophomore Alexis Schaffner added 10 and senior Ashley Elliot had 8 for the Mustangs. Two of Elliot’s 3-pointers came in the third period when Marquette cut its deficit to three points.

“I think our kids did a good job in the second half of attacking that half-court trap much better,” Marquette head coach Scott Cleer said. “The first half we were dribbling into the traps. We did a much better job screening and getting the ball down to our scorers and attacking the basket. That’s something we didn't do in the first quarter.

“Defensively, they’re tough to guard. Jordynn Martin’s good,” Cleer said. “They got shooters. Our goal was to attack the basket, let us get setup on defense, and keep them out of the paint, and make them shoot the basketball. And I think we did that to a point.”

Porter said, “We said you have to cover their shooters…and they’re great in the clutch, and they climbed back in it. Then we had to try and make a play when it was tied.

“Rivalry games have a tendency to make it to be ugly,” Porter said, “but it’s fun to watch because it’s back and forth.”