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PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Battle-tested

Second-half surge from Tigers helps capture conference crown against Waseca

Photo by Jake Przytarski The Marshall girls basketball team poses with their Big South Conference championship trophy after defeating Waseca 50-43 on Tuesday.

MARSHALL — In the unfamiliar position of having to battle back from a halftime deficit, the No. 4 ranked Marshall girls basketball team dug deep in the second half of Tuesday’s Big South Conference championship matchup with Waseca and came away with a hard-fought 50-43 victory on its home court.

The conference title is Marshall’s third in the six-year history of the Big South Conference, and first since the 2015-2016 season.

The matchup between Marshall and Waseca marked the fifth time that the two teams have met in the Conference title game. Coach Dan Westby tipped his cap to the Bluejays and said it’s always going to be a battle when the two teams square off.

“Anytime Marshall plays Waseca in just about anything it’s going to be a battle and that certainly was the case here,” said Westby. “I thought Waseca had a great game plan. We haven’t seen a lot of zone and they played a lot of zone and they did a good job of mixing in man (defense). It was a hard-fought win, I thought Waseca played hard and were also pretty smart offensively, were very patient and waited for good shots. I thought they did a good job.”

Reflecting on what it took to come out on top this time around in spite of the slow start, Westby pointed to the team’s spirited effort to begin the second half as key.

“We just got off to such a slow start during the first half and just had a really difficult time getting the ball to go into the basket, and to our kids’ credit we made a nice push right away to start the second half,” said Westby. “We were able to get the lead early and kind of maintained it.”

The first half of the back and forth contest was an all-out battle on the defensive end of the floor with the two teams combining to score only four points through the first five minutes in a 2-2 tie. Marshall went on to take a brief lead in the minutes that followed at 4-2 and 5-4, but the Bluejays responded by taking their first lead of the game at 6-5 and pushed it to 15-9 moments later following a 9-4 run.

With its offense struggling to find a rhythm, Lenei Estrada provided a sorely-needed boost for the Tigers with a steal and a three-pointer to bring Marshall to within three points of tying the game at 15-12. The timely three-pointer by Estrada was her first of two in the contest. Westby said the basket helped provide a spark with its offensive sputtering.

“The three that Lenei hit was really important because as I mentioned we were a little bit sluggish offensively at that point,” said Westby.

Feeding off the made three-pointer by Estrada and the production of their press that forced 14 first-half turnovers, the Tigers pulled in front one more time prior to the break at 19-18. Free-throw shooting woes prevented Marshall from maintaining its slim-advantage, however, as the Bluejays pulled ahead late and clung to a three-point advantage at halftime.

Overall, the Tigers shot just 42% from the free-throw line and were 1 of 7 in the first half of play.

“We had a difficult time from the free-throw line,” said Westby. “Outside of the four Jordyn made down the stretch there to end the game we were 4-15. Boy, we just can’t have nights like that.”

With their backs against the wall, Marshall wasted little time setting the tone to start the second half as Hilgemann opened the scoring to make it one-point game before a steal and another basket by Abby Wendorff gave the Tigers the lead once more at 23-22. The rapid response to start the second half was a huge momentum booster, according to Westby.

“We got the possession and got a basket right off the bat, I think that was a big lift for us,” said Westby. “To score as quickly as we did and then we forced a turnover and got another score so then we had the lead, which we hadn’t had much in the first half, so I thought it was a good defensive effort. I thought our pressure got better as the game went on.”

The Bluejays momentarily halted the Tigers’ momentum with a pair of baskets that gave them a short-lived lead at 27-25, but a pivotal 12-0 run highlighted by a pair of threes from Estrada and Natalee Sample, as well as three inside baskets by Emily Meier gave Marshall its largest lead of the game at 37-27.

Waseca did its best to mount a comeback down the stretch and came within one point of tying the game at 42-41 following a 14-5 scoring run, but clutch free throws by Hilgemann late in the contest proved vital in helping Marshall hold on to win in a 50-43 final.

Marshall (24-0) will conclude its regular season schedule on Friday when the team hosts Sioux Falls Roosevelt (S.D.) at 7:15 p.m. Westby expects the regular season finale to be a big test for his team prior to the start of the section tournament.

“We’ve got a big game here on Friday versus Roosevelt so that’ll be an important game because they’re another big, physical team and that’ll be a good test for us,” said Westby. “We do our seeding on Saturday and we’ll find out who we play, but if you look at our section I mean it’s just jam-packed. It’s top to bottom it’s very competitive, probably the most competitive it’s been in years, so it’ll be an exciting section tournament.”

Marshall 50, Waseca 43

Waseca 22 21 — 43

Marshall 19 31 — 50

Overall FG percentage: Marshall 40% (19-47); Waseca 49% (17-35)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

SCORING: Marshall (Naughton 1-5 0-0 2, Estrada 2-4 0-4 6, Sample 1-4 0-2 3, Hilgemann 7-19 7-9 21, Wendorff 2-5 0-0 5, Meier 4-6 1-4 9, Andries 2-4 0-0 4).

REBOUNDING: Marshall 16 (Hilgemann 7, Meier 3, Wendorff, Naugton 2, Estrada, Sample 1).

ASSISTS: Marshall 13 (Naughton, Estrada 3, Hilgemann, Wendorff, Andries 2, Meier 1).

BLOCKS: Marshall 0.

STEALS: Marshall 15 (Meier, Estrada, Hilgemann 4, Andries 2, Naughton 1).

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