Playing up against Class 4A, No. 10 Marist, Myrtle Point’s girls basketball team knew it would have to at least slow down the Spartans’ highly-touted forward Allie Rogers to have a chance.

So the Bobcats swarmed Rogers, holding her to 10 points on the night, but it wasn’t enough as the deep Marist team found scoring elsewhere in a 45-23 win over Myrtle Point in the opening round of the Les Schwab South Coast Holiday Basketball Tournament on Monday.

Spartans coach Chad DePaoli said he wasn’t surprised by the Bobcats’ strategy of bringing two, sometimes three, players to Rogers whenever she touched the ball.

“We know that’s going to be the M-O of a lot of teams we play,” he said. “Other players are going to have to step up, and they did.”

Emily Hacker had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Spartans, while Macky Dennis chipped in 10 points. Rogers had 13 rebounds in the game.

Sam Sanders was the standout for Myrtle Point with nine points and five steals, while Meghan Ross chipped in eight points and six boards.

The Bobcats shot a woeful 21 percent from the field, though, in a game that was mostly a defensive battle that Myrtle Point ultimately lost.

“Our strength is normally our defense. We just didn’t cover people tonight,” said Bobcats coach Marty Stallard. “We looked like we came out intimidated and that set the complexion of the game.”

The teams played to a 6-4 opening quarter, and Myrtle Point didn’t get on the board until Sanders hit a runner with 2:39 remaining in the first. Sanders’ aggressive defense paid dividends in the opening quarter, as she had a steal and forced a Marist turnover on an inbounds play. Ross hit a pair of free throws in the waning seconds to close the lead to two points.

Myrtle Point took a 7-6 lead early in the second on a Sanders 3-pointer, and again led 11-10 with a Ross jumper, but Marist pulled away in the final minutes of the quarter, ending the half with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Dennis that put the Spartans up 21-14.

In the second half, Marist tightened the screws.

After a Ross pulled the Bobcats within 21-16 with 6:17 remaining, the Spartans brought their defensive pressure up a notch. Myrtle Point did not  score again until the 1:12 mark on a Shirah Stidham free throw, and by then the Marist lead was 30-17.

The score was 33-17 after three quarters, and the Spartans outscored the Bobcats 12-6 in the final period to set the final count.

“They’re good,” said Stallard of the Spartans after the game. “We had no energy. We weren’t ready to play.”