Photo by Emily Daniels Marshall’s Corrin Naughton shoots a free throw during their game against St. Peter on Friday. The Tigers defeated the Saints 52-50.

MARSHALL – Looking to extend their two-game winning streak, the Marshall girls basketball team had a challenging task in front of them at home on Friday night as St. Peter hoped to play spoiler in conference action. After a lot of back and forth action, the Tigers and Saints took it down to the closing seconds where Marshall was able to hang on for a thrilling 52-50 victory.

With the score tied at 48-48 with under three minutes to play, Marshall earned a trip to the free-throw line and Abigail Wendorff connected on a shot to give the Tigers the lead with 2:41 left. Emily Meier came in just when Marshall needed a boost the most and put a shot up to grow the Tigers lead to 51-48 with 1:22 left to play in the game. Marshall would then close it out at the free-throw line once again en route to the two-point victory for the Tigers.

With a game that could’ve gone either way down the stretch, Marshall coach Dan Westby thought his team held it together very well and is impressed with the way they played the whole game even up to the final seconds.

“They’re a really good team and they’re really balanced. They’re a tough matchup for us and I thought that our kids battled all the way through,” said Westby. “We got a couple good baskets at the end and knocked down a couple free throws when we needed them. This was a hard-fought win and we needed this one.”

The Tigers started off the first half ready to go, but throughout the half experienced some weaknesses that helped the Saints take advantage. Despite the few weaknesses that Marshall experienced throughout the half they found just enough strengths to keep itself in the game. Meier started out the first half strong under the basket and was the help the Tigers needed to take a 7-6 lead with 14:19 remaining in the half. Neither team took a steady lead during the first half, going back and forth, but with back-to-back 3-pointers the Tigers took an 18-13 lead with 9:46 on the clock. One of those 3-pointers coming from sophomore Jordyn Hilgemann, who became a key player on the court for the Tigers.

Marshall continued to play to its strengths on the offensive end and added to its lead, but the Saints fought back and took the lead from the Tigers at 22-21 with 6:42 to play in the first half. St. Peter didn’t stop there and continued to grow its lead over the Tigers by making it 25-22 with just 3:34 remaining on the clock. Marshall found itself falling behind and not connecting on the shots they needed to be hitting but the Tigers finally found their groove on the court and tied it back up at 25-25.

The two teams would continue to trade points the remainder of the opening half, but it was Marshall who ended the frame on a high note, going into the break with a 30-29 lead.

Both teams came into the second half aggressive on the defensive end, which resulted in the Big South Conference opponents holding each other scoreless for the first two minutes of play in the second half. Kaia Sueker got the half started with a 3-pointer that grew the Tigers lead to 33-29 before a 3-point play from Meier pushed Marshall’s lead to 36-31.

A few strong offensive plays for the Saints gave St. Peter the opportunity to fight back and that is what they did. The Saints found their way back up from the early second-half deficit and tied the score back up to 38-38 with 12:40 left to play in the game. Both teams began to battle it out to find a steady lead and this created a lot of fast-moving plays and unnecessary fouls.

After taking a small lead over the Saints, the Tigers couldn’t seem to connect on any of their shots and that gave St. Peter the opportunity to come back again and it took back the lead at 41-40 with just under 10 minutes left to play. Marshall showed many signs that they wanted to win the game, but they let the Saints get away with easy shots and passes. A quick timeout is all it took for the Tigers to get their heads back into the game after a 3-pointer from Lenei Estrada closed the gap on the Saints to within one with 6:36 remaining in the half. Sueker then came back into the game and brought the Tigers back at a tie at 48-48 with 5:40 left on the clock, setting the stage for the final plays down the stretch.

Hilgemann led the Tigers in points, racking in a total of 16 followed by Meier who had 12. Corrin Naughton led the team in assists bringing in four while Wendorff added three. Marshall shot 17 of 40 from the field and 10 of 17 at the free-throw line.

Marshall will face Sioux Falls Washington next Thursday at 5:30 p.m. Westby knows that the team has a few things to work on and get better on before they take on their next opponent.

“We’ve got a lot to work on. We go to Sioux Falls next Thursday to play Washington and that will be a tough game for us,” said Westby. “We have to work on a few things and get better.”