Hanging with the #2 ranked class 4A girls basketball team in the state is exactly what Washington did on Saturday for one half of play. The final 16 minutes is when the powerhouse that is Marion showed up on their home court en route to a 57-31 win to end the Demons’ season in a regional semifinal.

As heard on KCII, the Demons weathered an early Indian storm by turning a 10-3 deficit into a 10-10 tie late in the first on the strength of the inside game with Addison Six and Olivia Pacha. A Marion team that shoots 38% from deep was kept in check in the first half and Washington stuck around trailing just 27-19 at the break. Kayba Laube and company started to let it fly in the second half and outscored the Demons 30-12 in the final two quarters. Laube finished with a game-high 25 points and nailed three shots from long range. Six finished her career with 15 points and Pacha added six. Head Coach Shannon Rugg was proud of how his team competed. “We hung our hat on pounding the ball inside all season long and that was our game plan tonight. I don’t think we could have done anything better than what we did in the first half. When we played Marion last year we didn’t really show up to play and we challenged them to get after it this time. Demon basketball is all about competing until the very end and that’s exactly what we did today.”

Marion improves to 20-1 and advance to the regional final to face Clear-Creek Amana. Washington concludes the season at 12-10 and they say goodbye to five seniors in Six, Pacha, Kinsey Duwa, Halle Leyden, and Maddison Fishback.