On a night in which Marietta Blue Devils girls basketball head coach, Derrick DeWitt was honored for reaching his 200th win, the Lady Blue Devils looked to add to Coach DeWitt's win total when they faced the Walton Raiders in a region match up. For Marietta, a win would allow then to keep pace with region standings leader, North Paulding, while Walton looked to secure their second region win of the season.
The Blue Devils would come out and establish control early in the contest as they would close out the first quarter with a 20-8 lead. However, the Raiders would actually outscore Marietta in both the second (11-9) and third (13-9) quarters and find themselves trailing 38-32 heading into the fourth quarter. The Raiders would continue to rally themselves back into the game as they opened up the fourth quarter outscoring Marietta 15-7 to take a 47-46 lead, their first of the game, late in the period.
However, the Blue Devils would match to pull things together and quickly regain the lead going up 48-47 and would get several clutch free throws down the stretch from junior point guard, Chloe Sterling (23 points) as they would go on to pick up the 53-50 win. Marietta senior forward, Lauren Walker would finish with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Walton would be led by senior forward Tomisin Adenupe with 21 points and sophomore center, Lexy Harris with 11 points.
The win allowed the Blue Devils to remain a game back in the region standings behind North Paulding, who they will face next Friday. If Marietta wins their next region game with Hillgrove, a win over North Paulding could have them tied with the Wolfpack for first or even a game ahead pending North Paulding's outcome with Harrison on Tuesday.
Following Friday's game, DeWitt said that he wants to see improvement in their system for offensive rebounding as they head down the stretch. "We need to see adjustments and improvements from each player," DeWitt said. He went on to say "finishing plays around the basket" is something he felt they could get stronger at because they do put themselves "in those situations. We just have to capitalize," DeWitt stated in regards to the team finishing strong over the week and heading into the tournament.
