Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall's Abby Wendorff drives the lane during their Section 2AAA championship game against Waconia on Thursday at Gustavus Adolphus College. The Tigers fell to the Wildcats 61-50.

ST. PETER – The last time the Marshall and Waconia girls basketball teams faced each other, Marshall relied on a comeback in the final minutes to earn a thrilling win. The top-seeded Tigers knew things were going to be just as challenging in the second go-around, especially with a trip to the state tournament at stake.

Marshall had a chance to pull off another massive come-from-behind performance in the second half, but the second-seeded Wildcats made enough plays to earn the 61-50 victory Thursday night at Gustavus Adolphus College and move on to the state tournament.

Marshall coach Dan Westby said both teams competed hard, but felt Waconia was able to play to its strengths better as a team throughout the night.

“I just thought it was a hard-contested game, every point was contested, every rebound was contested, every loose ball, I just felt like in the end their strengths really came through,” Westby said. “They’re a very athletic team, they ran the court well and were able to finish some shots whether it was layups or in their half-court offense where we did not. I felt like we had a hard time getting the ball to go into the basket, especially in that first half. Being down like that at halftime, it felt like we had opportunities and just didn’t get it done.”

Weathering the storm

The Tigers would get out to an early lead thanks to a pair of layups from Jordyn Hilgemann and Emily Meier, but the Wildcats quickly responded with an 8-0 run to give Waconia a 10-4 advantage with 14 minutes left in the first half.

Marshall had trouble on the offensive end of the floor early on in the frame, as missed free throws and turnovers hurt the Tigers’ chances of building a steady lead. Lenei Estrada would bring Marshall to within four at 16-12 on a basket at the midway point, but Waconia had another tough answer, this time going on a 5-0 run to earn its biggest lead of the first half at nine points with under seven minutes to play in the half.

Westby said when they got the ball down to the post, Waconia did a good job of disguising its swarming help defense in order to limit extra passes to their shooters on the perimeter. The Wildcats held the Tigers to just one 3-pointer on the game (1 of 13).

“I thought Waconia really sold things in terms of when we tried to get the ball inside, they slammed two or three kids down there and really took things away,” Westby said. “Not only could we not get the shot off, but we had a difficult time finding people on the perimeter in that situation and that’s been something that we’ve relied on so much this year; they took it away and we just had a hard time getting a lot going on offense as a result.”

Marshall continued to fight, however, getting a pair of free throws from Meier and Natalee Sample before a jumper and a free throw by Corrin Naughton on separate possessions made it a two-point game at 21-19 with 5:11 to go. Both teams traded points the rest of the way, but Waconia maintained its momentum with a 34-25 lead going into the locker rooms.

Comeback falls short

In search of a spark, Marshall went to its press in the early minutes of the second half, but the Wildcats didn’t let it affect themselves as they built their first double-digit lead of the night. The Tigers were able to stay within striking distance on a jumper from Paige Andries before the senior got a layup to go to make it a 10-point game again, and Hilgemann later cut the deficit to single digits on a 3-point play with 10:53 left.

Continuing to show their resiliency on both ends of the floor, the Tigers made it a seven-point game at 47-40 on a pair of free throws from Hilgemann with eight minutes to go, but Waconia answered with a basket to push its lead back to 10 a couple of minutes later.

The two teams would trade points over the next few possessions, as a jumper by Hilgemann cut the deficit to single digits again, but the Wildcats strung together enough stops down the stretch to extinguish Marshall’s comeback hopes.

Hilgemann led the way for the Tigers with 19 points while Andries added nine and Meier had six. Meier led in rebounds with seven while Estrada led in assists with five. As a team, Marshall shot 30% from the field (14 of 47), but made 21 of its 32 free throws.

Waconia was led by Audrey Swanson with 22 points while Ava Stier added eight and Sydni Olson, Allie Zimmer and Addy Salzer each had seven. The Wildcats shot 48% from the field (23 of 48), hitting four 3-pointers and making 11 of 19 from the free-throw line.

Saluting the seniors

With the loss, Marshall ends its season with a record of 27-1. Thursday’s game also marked the final games for Marshall’s four seniors in Andries, Sample, Estrada and Adrienne Simpson. Westby said all four of them did so much for the program both on and off the floor and they’ll be sorely missed next year.

“It’s really difficult to imagine life without them next year because they’ve been a part of this for so long. Lenei has done so much, she does a majority of our ballhandling and does a lot in our pressure, we’re certainly going to miss what she provides. Paige is such a tough competitor on our team and we’re going to miss what she brings, not only to the games but to practice as well,” Westby said. “Adrienne has been just a great teammate and we’re going to miss everything she provides on and off the court; she’s a great student in our school and we’re going to miss that. Natalee took a year off and then decided to come back this year and we’re so thankful that she did. She’s a tremendous defender and we’re going to miss that part of her game as well.”

No. 2 Waconia 61, No. 1 Marshall 50

Waconia34 27 – 61

Marshall25 25 – 50

Scoring: Marshall (Hilgemann 6-17, 6-7 19; Andries 2-5, 5-9 9; Meier 2-7, 2-3 6; Wendorff 1-3, 3-5 5; Estrada 2-8, 1-2 5; Naughton 1-3, 2-4 4; Sample 0-4, 2-2 2).

Rebounds: Marshall 20 (Meier 7; Hilgemann 5; Sample, Wendorff 3; Andries 2).

Assists: Marshall 5 (Estrada).

Steals: Marshall 8 (Estrada 4; Wendorff 2; Sample, Andries 1).

Blocks: Marshall 1 (Andries).