Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Jordyn Hilgemann drives past a Willmar defender during their game on Tuesday. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 50-35.

MARSHALL – The first three games for the Marshall girls basketball team has seen a steady display of scoring, with the Tigers averaging just more than 67 points per game. When they returned home Tuesday night, they found a Willmar opponent with a knack for aggressive defense. In a gritty battle, Marshall was able to withstand the Cardinals pressure despite scoring a season-low 50 points and keep its perfect start to the season intact with a 50-35 victory.

Marshall coach Dan Westby said they knew Willmar was going to be a tough test for their team and was pleased with how his team stepped up to the challenge.

“It was a hard-fought game. They’re a strong team and that took some getting used to for our kids,” Westby said. “Anytime that we can get a win over a AAA team that’s a positive; we felt like this was a game we needed to win and our kids were able to get it done.”

Overcoming miscues

Although the Tigers were able to generate points late in the frame, they struggled to find a groove in the early portions of the first half. Turnovers and a string of fouls affected Marshall early, but fortunately for the Tigers, those same miscues prevented the Cardinals as the score was deadlocked at four apiece before a steal and a layup by Jordyn Hilgemann gave MHS its first lead of the night.

The Cardinals would stay within striking distance, though, drawing back-to-back charges on the defensive end before a basket brought Willmar to within five at 14-9. But that would be the closest they got in the half, however, as Marshall rattled off five straight points to take a double-digit lead at 19-9 with 6:15 left before turning to its defense to keep Willmar in check. Over the final six minutes of the frame, the Tigers press forced the Cardinals into multiple turnovers, leading Marshall to outscore Willmar 12-6 the rest of the half and hold a 31-15 advantage going into the locker rooms.

Westby said their biggest adjustment from the first half was just trying to calm themselves and credited Willmar for responding to their adjustments.

“We just felt like we needed to relax,” Westby said. “We got going too fast and just didn’t take care of things, but we tried to mix in some different things defensively and every time we tried to make a change, I thought Willmar responded.”

Defense shuts it down

Looking to carry its late momentum from the first half, the Tigers instead saw the Cardinals deliver an early punch by scoring the first seven points of the second frame to cut the deficit to single digits at 31-22, but Abby Wendorff responded with a 3-pointer to stop the bleeding.

Despite Willmar’s efforts to get to within striking distance, the Tigers defense continued to hang tough and keep the Cardinals from finding the bottom of the basket.

While its defense showed its strengths, the offense for Marshall gradually got into a rhythm, with the Tigers holding at least a 10-point lead for the majority of the half before going up 14 thanks to consecutive layups by Emily Meier and Courtni Nielsen. The Tigers later went up by as many as 17 before earning the 50-35 victory.

Westby said defensively he felt his team was able to put together some nice stops and that helped the offense find opportunities to get back on the board in the second half.

“I thought our kids did tighten things up defensively and then I think Abby hit a big three for us because we were stuck on 31 forever,” Westby said. “That kind of got us going offensively again. We knew defensively it was going to be tough and felt that was a strength of theirs. The fact that we were only able to score 50 points, I guess that’s not a big surprise.”

Hilgemann led the way for the Tigers with 18 points while Meier added 16 and Wendorff had seven. Meier led in rebounds with 11 while Hilgemann and Lenei Estrada led in assists with two each.

As a team, Marshall shot 19-of-57 from the field (33%) and made 10 of its 21 free throws. Defensively, the Tigers held Willmar to just 28% shooting (11-of-40).

Up next

Marshall (4-0) heads back onto the road to take on Hill-Murray on Saturday at 1 p.m. Westby said they need to continue to battle hard as they move through their schedule.

“It’s a big win; we’ve got another big game against Hill-Murray on Saturday and that’s always a tough game,” Westby said. “I thought our kids battled hard and that’s going to have to be something that we do throughout the season because there aren’t any breaks in our schedule.”

Marshall 50, Willmar 35

Willmar 15 20 – 35

Marshall 31 19 – 50

Scoring: Marshall (Hilgemann 6-18, 6-9 18; Meier 8-14, 0-2 16; Wendorff 2-5, 1-4 7; Naughton 1-4, 2-2 4; Nieslen 1-1, 0-0 2; Andries 1-5, 0-0 2; Sample 0-1, 1-2 1).

Rebounds: Marshall 37 (Meier 11; Hilgemann, Estrada 5).

Assists: Marshall 5 (Hilgemann, Estrada 2; Wendorff 1).

Steals: Marshall 9 (Estrada, Hilgemann 2).

Blocks: Marshall none.