Iron sharpens iron.

The Marian’s girls basketball team - which goes eight to 10 deep on most nights - works hard and competes against each other each and every day at practice.

The Fillies’ ability to do just that has helped them win nine straight games, and also helped them come away with a dominating Schuylkill League Division II-III crossover victory over Tri-Valley on Thursday, 54-17.

“Having a JV team this year has been great for us, and that group works really hard, and has been getting better every single day at practice,” said Marian coach Damian Fritz. “That enables us to get good looks at the things that other teams like to do in full-court sets and half-court sets.

“It’s just helping everyone in the program improve. These girls challenge each other every day, and they compete and work hard, and the results have been impressive.”

The Fillies (12-1, 8-0) defense against the Bulldogs (12-4, 5-3) was overpowering in the first half. Marian started the contest in a full-court trapping defense, jumping and double-teaming Tri-Valley ball handlers. The result was just six points allowed by the Fillies through the first two quarters of play. Marian forced 12 turnovers and held the Bulldogs to just 2-of-17 shooting during that span.

Frankie Martinelli led the Fillies with eight points, and Fatikha Tikhtova added six in the first half as Marian held a commanding 28-6 advantage at the intermission.

“That was our best defensive performance of the season over a 16-minute time period,” said Fritz. “Every rotation was made and executed, and we were able to get our hands out in the passing lanes and create turnovers. I could not be more proud of our defensive performance tonight.”

Tri-Valley showed a little life to start the third quarter, hitting back-to-back three-pointers after it shot 0-for-12 from beyond the arc in the first half, mostly due to strong contests from Fillies’ defenders. But Marian never stopped clicking, answering by going on an 8-0 run. A nice left-handed finish by Martinelli at the rim plus the foul started the run that also included a pair of Kerrigan Digris’ baskets - a left wing jumper and a triple from the right corner.

With Marian leading 45–17 to start the fourth quarter, sophomore Olivia Thomas’ bucket inside would put the game into mercy rule the rest of way.

“Coming into the game, we knew we had to handle their defensive physicality in the half-court - and they were, definitely physical,” said Fritz. “We know once we get into the playoffs, that we’re going to see more teams like that, but our girls handled that very well tonight.

“Our girls executed, found the open player and were able to knock down shots.”

LEADERS

… Martinelli led all scorers with 13 points for Marian. Tikhtova added eight points and 10 rebounds, and Carly Minchhoff added eight points and seven boards. Gianna Poletti paced the Bulldogs with 11.

EFFICIENT EXECUTION

… The Marian offense was also very good in the first half, as it shot 11-for-21 from the field, going 5-for-10 in the first, and 6-for-11 in the second.

TRI-VALLEY

Miller 0-0-0-0, Raulston 0-0-0-0, Kaczmarczyk 0-0-0-0, Huntzinger 0-0-0-0, Header 0-0-0-0, Colahan 0-2-2-2, G. Poletti 5-0-2-11, Kroh 0-0-0-0, Snyder 0-0-0-0, Canfield 1-1-4-3. TOTALS: 6-3-8-17.

MARIAN

Pleban 2-0-0-5, Digris 3-0-0-7, Martinelli 5-3-3 13, Minchhoff 3-1-3-8, F. Tikhtova 4-0-0-8, A. Tikhtova 1-1-2-3, Fritz 2-0-0-6, Lombardo 0-0-0-0, Corrado 1 0-0 2, Thomas 1-0-0-2, Perez 0-0-0-0, Cryder 0-0-0-0, Katner 0-0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-5-8-54.

Tri-Valley 4 2 11 0 - 17

Marian 12 16 17 9 - 54

Three-Pointers: Tri-Valley - Poletti 1, Canfield 1; Marian - Fritz 2, Pleban 1, Digris 1, Minchhoff 1.