Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Jordyn Hilgemann looks to drive the lane during their Class AAA quarterfinal game against St. Croix Lutheran Academy on Tuesday at Mankato East High School.

MANKATO — Fresh off its hard-fought section championship on Friday, the Marshall girls basketball team looked to keep things rolling in its Class AAA tournament opener against St. Croix Lutheran Academy. Second-seeded Marshall did just that, using a combination of stifling defense and two key scoring runs to build a commanding halftime lead and ultimately earn a 63-32 victory on Tuesday at Mankato East High School.

Marshall coach Dan Westby said he was pleased with their effort on both sides of the floor, especially in the first half to be able to build a strong lead.

“You never know in games like this who’s going to be ready to play and our kids certainly came out and were ready to play. We got a little bit of everything in that first half and I thought we got a lot of inside baskets and that really helped us; Emily Meier was really dominant inside and we needed that from her,” Westby said. “It was a great win, it’s nice to be advancing and we’ve got a little bit of time off now, we don’t play again until next Tuesday, so we’ve got some time to regroup and get ready to go again.”

It was back and forth in the opening stages, with Marshall taking a 4-2 lead early before St. Croix Lutheran Academy connected on a 3-pointer to go up 5-4 with 15 minutes left in the first half. Marshall then got into a groove on the offensive end, as a collection of layups led by Meier and Abby Wendorff quickly pushed its advantage to 15-5 a few minutes later. A Crusaders layup would stop a nearly four-minute scoreless streak as well as an 11-0 Marshall run before a 3-point play helped St. Croix Lutheran Academy cut the deficit to single digits at 17-10 with 10:27 left in the half.

But Marshall had another timely response, using four layups from Meier, Jordyn Hilgemann, Ashleigh Steinbach and Corrin Naughton to highlight another 11-0 scoring burst and push their lead to 28-10 with 8:47 left. Marshall’s offense showed no signs of slowing down, going up 20 before Wendorff got a layup and Hilgemann connected on a jumper to make it 40-16 with 1:35 to go before Hilgemann got a layup in the closing seconds to give MHS a 44-19 halftime lead.

The two teams traded points to start the second half, with Marshall continuing to maintain its strong lead before Steinbach got a layup to make it 50-22 with 11 minutes left. MHS would lead by as many as 37 at 61-24 with under five minutes to play en route to the 63-32 final.

Meier led Marshall with 19 points while Hilgemann added 16 and Wendorff had 11. Hilgemann led in rebounds with nine while Naughton led in assists with five. As a team, Marshall shot 66% (25 of 38) from the field, including 11 of 17 from the free-throw line.

Westby said another key on offense for them was their ability to create turnovers on defense and turn those mistakes into quick points on the other end.

“In addition to our scoring inside, I felt like we were able to turn our pressure into points, too and I think that’s always a nice boost,” Westby said. “Emily and Abby did a great job of taking the ball to the basket and gave us a nice 1-2 combination between those two.”

Defensively, Marshall held St. Croix Lutheran Academy to 22% shooting (10 of 45) from the field, including 5 of 26 from 3-point range and forced 18 turnovers.

Up next

Marshall (21-0) advances to the Class AAA semifinals next Tuesday and will face the No. 1 seed in the North bracket, Academy of Holy Angels, at 7 p.m. at Target Center. Westby said they know it will be a challenging battle on a court they’re not used to and they need to be ready to play from the start.

“The next game is at the Target Center, so that will be a different atmosphere, but it’s going to be a tough game, so we’ve got to be ready to go,” Westby said.

Marshall 63, St. Croix Lutheran Academy 32

St. Croix Lutheran 19 13 – 32

Marshall 44 19 – 63

Scoring: Marshall (Meier 6-10, 7-10 19; Hilgemann 7-11, 1-2 16; Wendorff 5-6, 1-2 11; Simpson 3-7, 2-2 8; Steinbach 2-2, 0-0 4; Estrada 1-1, 0-0 3; Naughton 1-1, 0-0 2).

Rebounds: Marshall 28 (Hilgemann 9; Wegner 6; Meier, Wendorff, Naughton 3).

Assists: Marshall 11 (Naughton 5; Hilgemann 3).

Steals: Marshall 12 (Simpson 4; Hilgemann, Naughton 3).

Blocks: Marshall none.