ARIMO — Marsh Valley was angry.

    After a 68-35 loss to Sky View (Utah) on Thursday, the biggest defeat the group of nine seniors has ever had in high school, Eagles head coach Kyle McQuivey told his disappointed team after the game that the sun would rise again.

    And it did. The Marsh Valley Eagles rebounded in a big way and beat the Malad Dragons 48-23 in Arimo Saturday night.

    How does an angry team play?

    In Marsh Valley’s case, it uses constant ball pressure to harass its opponent into 22 turnovers. The Eagles’ defense rotated between full-court man-to-man, a trapping press, and tough half-court zone or man that proved a riddle too difficult to solve for the young Malad squad that does not have a senior on its roster.

    “We kept them confused and disoriented,” McQuivey said.

    Early in the opening quarter, the Dragons executed their offense and found sophomore post Aubrey King down in the post. She scored a quick three points.

    But Marsh Valley began to exert its will with rotating defenses, and ball pressure on Malad’s guard. Suddenly, the Dragons could not find King posted up underneath and they struggled to score.

    “Our biggest game plan was to put pressure on the point so they couldn’t get it into King, and hopefully keep it away from her as much as possible,” McQuivey said. “Plus, (Jordan Hawkes) scored a bunch on us last time. So we wanted to make sure and stay in her face and stop her from hurting us, too.”

    Despite the offensive struggles, though, Malad stayed within striking range at 15-9 going into the half.

    In fact, all the way into the fourth quarter, the Dragons stayed around and kept it close. But Marsh Valley had gone to a small lineup, one without a true center, and that helped spread the floor for its shooters.

    McQuivey inserted his spark plug off the bench, senior Paige Howell.

    “We saw we could use her speed. So we took our big out and put Paige in there with the speed to see if we could get a mismatch and get some things open,” he said.

    With the small, quick lineup, the Eagles found lanes open to the basket and when Malad defenders responded to the penetration, drivers dished for open jumpshots.

    After scoring 26 points in the first three quarters, Marsh Valley exploded for 22 in the fourth to blow the game open.

    “They finally got their wheels going, and got their shots on,” McQuivey said. “Things just started to going. It was looking good.”

    Howell led a balanced scoring effort for Marsh Valley with 10 points. Amanda Marshall had eight, Kami Hansen nine and Sara Mcnabb finished with eight.

    Aubrey King was the leading Malad scorer with nine points.

    “We just got outplayed,” said Dragons head coach Bob Sorensen. “Marsh Valley is a good team. They outplayed us. We made stupid turnovers.”

    Marsh Valley moves to 7-2 for the season. The Eagles travel to West Side Wednesday. Malad (5-4) hosts  Bear Lake Thursday.

Marsh Valley 48, Malad 23

Malad    6    3    6    8    — 23

Marsh Valley    8    7    11    22 — 48

Malad — Aubrey King 9, Jordan Hawkes 7, Brooke Sorensen 5, Meaghan Brown 2; Marsh Valley — Amanda Marshall 8, Kami Hansen 9, Paige Howell 10, Dassia May 6, Sara Mcnabb 8, Jessica Dunn 3, Faith Lolofie 2, Jacinta May 2.