Source: Farmington Observer

Author: Dan O'Meara / John Stormzand

Taylor Jones scored a career-high 37 points in Farmington Hills Mercy's come-from-behind victory over host Detroit Renaissance in a Class A district tournament game Monday in girls basketball, 63-58.

The senior guard made one triple-point basket and was 14-of-15 shooting free throws for the Marlins, who trailed 17-10 after one quarter and 32-31 at halftime.

"I thought she played better as the game went on," Mercy coach Gary Morris said. "Obviously, she scored a lot of points for us, and we needed all the points we scored tonight."

Senior Zora Pullen added 11 points, sophomore Claire Murray eight and senior Sierra Wangler seven. The Marlins were 20-of-23 at the foul line overall.

Wangler also had nine assists and seven rebounds, Jones six steals and junior Katie Bryce five assists. Pullen pulled down eight rebounds and Murray five.

Bryce also did a good job of shadowing Renaissance's best player, junior guard Siyeh Frazier, in the second half, according to Morris.

Frazier led the Phoenix (11-8) with 33 points. Nina Reynolds added 13 and Joergia Jones nine. Renaissance was 7-of-13 on free throws.

"This was their eighth loss, but all of them were to quality teams," Morris said, adding the Phoenix lost twice to King and once each to Cass Tech, Mumford, Country Day, Lathrup and Muskegon Mona Shores.

"Their record was a bit misleading. You play a team with seven losses and think they're not that good. This was a very good team.

"They have one outstanding player and some other very good ones as well. They had a distinct size advantage. They were bigger and taller than us at every position."

The Marlins (17-4) rebounded from a slow start to get within one at halftime with a 21-point second quarter. They outscored the Phoenix by one in the third period to create a 49-49 tie with one to play.

"I didn't think we played that well in the first half," Morris said. "I thought some of our kids were playing a little nervous. At the half we just said, 'We can play better than this.'

"In the second half, we were hoping we could get a two-possession lead and we finally did late. After that we were holding the basketball a bit."

Jones made an outside shot and, following a defensive stop, drove to the bucket for a four-point lead. Jones and Wangler made two free throws each to make it 63-55. Frazier hit a three with two seconds left.

"Fortunately, we were able to make a few more plays down the stretch," Morris said. "We played a pretty solid fourth quarter.

"We knew, as soon as we saw the draw, it was going to be a tough game. The kids fought hard and we're happy to pull out the victory.

"In the state tournament, the goal is to win and advance to another day, and we look forward to playing on Wednesday night."

Mercy will play Southfield (18-2), the champion of the OAA Gold Division, in a district semifinal game at 5 p.m. Wednesday.