Will Marchino Earns First Career Win as Head Coach

Liberal, Kansas – History was made for the Seward County Lady Saints women's basketball program on Saturday afternoon when they took on the Otero Rattlers in day two of the Otero Classic where Head Coach Will Marchino was able to pick up his first win as a head coach with a 64-59 win over Otero.

Looking to bounce back after a rough season opener, Seward County came out fully prepared for the Rattlers on day two of the Otero Classic as the Lady Saints quickly pushed out in front in the opening minutes thanks to three straight triples from beyond the arc to put Seward County in front 11-6 and an offensive rebound and put back from Allie Myers kept it going at 13-9. Myers kept using her size to the Lady Saints' advantage with eight rebounds in the first quarter including another late offensive board that led to an open three from Alianna Colon to put Seward County up 22-16 after the first quarter.

Size was in the Lady Saints' favor as Sanaa Dennis came in off the bench to start the second quarter and quickly found herself with two quick scores down low in the paint to increase the Seward County lead 26-21 and a few possessions later Jamia Carter continued where she left off from the previous day, slashing through the opposing defense for the bucket to push the lead to double digits at 32-21. A constant force on the offensive boards throughout the first half, Myers once again gave the Lady Saints another second chance opportunity and cashed it in for a first half double-double combined with Naomi Aragonez first points of the season to go into halftime up nine over Otero 34-25.

Despite a strong performance in the first half by Seward County, the tide shifted towards the Rattlers to open the third quarter as Otero rained down three straight from three-point range to close in on the Lady Saints 40-37. SCCC did not back away from the fight however as a pair of buckets from Ari Gordon helped keep their lead alive and once again Myers came to the rescue with a three pointer of her own to increase the lead back to eight at 50-42 and eventually entered the fourth with a six-point lead of 52-46 over the Rattlers.

Constantly on the Lady Saints' tail, Otero managed to remain close throughout the fourth quarter but Seward County did not make it easy with Kayla Peoples sinking her second triple of the game to put the score at 57-51 but once again the threes kept falling for the Rattlers as they got back to within two points at 60-58 and that would prove to be as close as they would get as Xoe Rosalez showed her clutch gene at the free throw line to secure the win for the Lady Saints 64-59.

With a record-breaking performance on the day, Myers set a new single game rebounding record for Seward County with 23 rebounds to go with 18 points. Also scoring in double figures was Carter with 11 and Peoples who added 10 to go with a team high 3 steals.

Now sitting at .500 after their first two games of the 2023-2024 season, the Lady Saints now head home for a few days to prepare for another road trip on Wednesday when they head south to Texas to take on Clarendon in a 6:00 PM tip-off.