By MATT GOLDBERG

Herald-Whig Sports Writer

Think of the West Hancock girls basketball team as a race car. And Marley Hall as the Titans' engine.

"Every other part in the race car is important but that engine's real important, obviously," West Hancock coach Ken Schuster said. "... The better the engine runs, the better the car runs."

So when Hall was forced to make an unexpected pit stop early in the Class 2A Monmouth Super-sectional, it looked like the Titans' state run had stalled.

After picking up two fouls in the opening 3 minutes, 10 seconds of the game, Hall could only watch from the sideline as Sterling Newman took a 15-6 lead.

Schuster, never one to sugarcoat his opinion, voiced his disappointment to his 6-foot-2 sophomore.

"I was on her about it, giving her a hard time -- she's very used to that," Schuster said.

But this time the reaction was different.

"I saw tears in her eyes," Schuster said. "Normally when I get on my kids they don't really tear up too much. They're pretty well conditioned to it. But when I saw she had those, you know what, she wasn't going to make those mistakes again -- those silly fouls. So in the second quarter I put her in there and I knew then that it was on -- that she was going to do something."

During the next 11 quarters, Hall never shed a tear.

She caused her opponents to shed plenty, however, en route to the Class 2A title in West Hancock's first season as a co-op.

"You could tell (by) my teammates' faces that I kind of needed to pick it up," Hall said. "So when I went back in there I was like, 'We can still do this. There's definitely no chance we're going to lose this game.'"

She made sure of that, averaging 22 points and 12.7 rebounds in the Super-sectional, state semifinal and state championship.

For her consistency throughout the season and efforts down the stretch, Hall is The Herald-Whig's 2008 Player of the Year.

Despite her foul trouble, Hall scored the first six points of the second quarter and outscored Newman 24-23 in the final three quarters of the Super-sectional victory. In a 43-38 semifinal win over Teutopolis, she scored 19 points and notched a double-double.

But Hall saved her best performance for the biggest game of her career.

In the Class 2A championship game against Rochester, Hall scored 13 of her game-high 23 points in the final quarter of West Hancock's 44-37 win.

The 61 percent free-throw shooter made 7 of 8 attempts from the line, including 5 of 6 in the final quarter.

The Titans (30-5) began the fourth quarter trailing 30-26. They ended it hoisting the Class 2A first-place trophy.

The state took notice as West Hancock, the No. 3 seed in the Knoxville sub-sectional, ended up finishing first in the state.

Hall is used to the extra attention after drawing double- and triple-teams all season. Some people assume that she is a post player because she is 6-2, but her opponents know better.

Hall dribbles with the grace of a shorter guard and runs the floor faster than most her counterparts.

"She scores from the perimeter, she's as good as any guard at taking people off the dribble," Schuster said. "... She presents matchup problems for virtually every player she will come across."

Despite her talent -- the list of Division I basketball programs interested in Hall grows every day -- Hall is never shy about allowing her teammates to step up.

"I've got to be able to see other people, too," Hall said. "I can't just try to do it all by myself. So I've definitely got to see my other teammates. ... It's not like I have to score a bunch of points every game. It's fine if other people on my team score, and I think it's good for them. And they don't have a problem with it, obviously. They do a great job."

It's easy to say you're a team player.

It's also pretty obvious that a player is going to have to pass out of a triple team.

But Hall's actions show she that she is concerned about her teammates. Rather than just focus on basketball, she expects to continue playing volleyball and softball for the next two years.

"I've kind of thought about (giving those sports up)," Hall said. "It's just one of those things where I can't imagine not playing (those sports). I definitely enjoy being around my friends all the time and being busy but again it would be nice to have a break every now and then. But I don't know. I can't really picture not playing I guess. ... There's people who play volleyball who don't play other sports. That's what's important to them, too. So I don't want to not be there for them."

Now that's a team player.

-- mgoldberg@whig.com/221-3367