Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall guard Kennedy Drake (3) shoots a 3-pointer during the second half of a girls basketball game against Fairmont in Marshall on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 69-40.

MARSHALL — After dropping a 67-65 heartbreaker at the buzzer against New Ulm on Friday night, the No. 5 Marshall girls basketball team bounced right back into form on Saturday. The Tigers pulled away early and rode their early momentum to a 69-40 win over Fairmont.

“We felt like it was really important we got off to a good start,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “Fairmont played well but we got the tip, came down and hit a 3 and I think everybody just kind of relaxed a little bit at that point.”

In Friday’s game, Marshall led for the majority of the game but Daviney Dreckman got a steal and a pair of layups in the final seconds to win it for New Ulm in the final seconds.

On Saturday, Reese Drake led Marshall with a game-high 23 points while shooting 8-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from 3-point range. Taleigha Bigler also finished in double figures with 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc while Reese Graven added another 9 points and Kennedy Drake added another 6 with a pair of 3-pointers.

Marshall shot 43% from beyond the arc as a group while holding the Cardinals to just 13% (2-of-13). The Cardinals were more efficient inside, shooting 48% to Marshall’s 39%, but the difference on the perimeter and Marshall’s 11-22 advantage in the turnover battle was too much for Marshall to overcome.

Reese Drake led Marshall’s efforts in the turnover battle with five steals while Bigler and Morgan Bjella each had another four.

Marshall and Fairmont each finished the game with 23 defensive boards but the Tigers had nine offensive rebounds to Fairmont’s six. Paige Gillingham alone had five offensive boards while Reese Drake and Bigler finished with seven and six total rebounds respectively. Bigler also dished out a game-high three assists.

Marshall led 39-26 at halftime and their lead only continued to grow from there. With plenty of wiggle room for the majority of the second half, the Tigers had the opportunity to get some of their less experienced players some varsity minutes.

“We’ve got some younger kids that we’re pretty excited about and at some point, we’re going to have to get those kids in the rotation,” Westby said. “We need to find opportunities to get them in there when we can and we’re confident those kids can do what they need to do.”

Marshall improves to 15-2 with the win and will next face Brandon Valley (S.D.) on the road on Tuesday at 7 p.m. After a slow start to the season, the Lynx have won six games in a row to bring their record to 7-3 on the season.

“All those teams we play in that league around the Sioux Falls area, all those teams are really competitive and we expect the same thing from Brandon Valley,” Westby said. “We had a tight game with them here [in Marshall] last year and I know they’ve got a number of kids back, so it’ll be a tough battle.”

The Tigers won last year’s matchup 60-55 behind 24 points from Bri Simpson and another 14 from Randi Wendorff, both of whom have since graduated. The Tigers also outrebounded the Lynx 41-21 last time around but, with the additional graduations of Leah Jones and Brooke Andries in the front court, it’s a whole new ballgame this time around.