Central girls christen new gym with OT loss

Kyla Parker leads Marion to thrilling 67-58 victory.

By David Wilson ~ Southeast Missourian

Monday night was the official opening of Central's brand new gymnasium as the first varsity basketball game was played there. The Tigers' girls team was supposed to properly christen it with an easy win.

Apparently no one told that to Kyla Parker and the rest of the Marion (Ill.) Wildcats.

Parker, a senior shooting guard, dropped 34 points on the Tigers as Marion came away with a 67-58 overtime win.

"Marion is a good team and they're even better when you don't play defense against them," Central coach Sheila Midgett said.

It appeared to be Parker against Wieser, rather than the scheduled game between Central (2-2) and Marion (7-2).

Senior Alex Wieser, Central's leading scorer, put up 12 points and grabbed three rebounds in the first quarter. Parker had 13 of Marion's 22.

At halftime, Wieser had 21 of Central's 31, while Parker had just 17.

But it was Parker who had the last word as Wieser fouled out in overtime with 31 points and 10 rebounds.

"This is very frustrating but it's going to be a learning experience for us and its still early," Wieser said.

Junior guard Megan McDonald added 17 points, eight assists, four steals and three rebounds for the TIgers. McDonald had a chance to win it with five seconds left in regulation but her shot went all the way around the rim and out as the buzzer sounded.

"We just weren't focused before the game tonight. We didn't know what to expect and maybe we took them a little lightly," McDonald said.

Central committed 25 fouls in the game and saw its two best defenders foul out. Marion made Central pay for sloppy defense, hitting 23 of 30 free throws while Central could only hit 12 of 19.

"Our free throw shooting really hurt us. And they didn't miss many of theirs," Midgett said.

Senior guard Melissa Ozga hit two final free throws with about 30 seconds left in overtime to ice the game for the Wildcats. Ozga then stole the ball and made a breakaway layup to cap the victory.

Ozga had 15 points and four steals for Marion. Parker added three rebounds and an assist to go with her 34 points.

"Kayla is a consistent player, I anticipate her having a good game every game," Marion coach Gene Watson said.

"We weren't aggressive at all on defense, maybe we were nervous about being in a new environment," Midgett said.

But Wieser and McDonald said that the new gym had nothing to do with Central's poor defensive effort.

"I don't think that had anything to do with it. But hopefully this will teach us a lesson," McDonald said.

Central's junior varsity also fell to Marion 39-31.