Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall guard Reese Drake attempts a layup during the first half of the Section 2AAA girls basketball quarterfinals against Hutchinson on Wednesday night.

MARSHALL — After a two-year hiatus from Section 2AAA, the seventh-seeded Hutchinson Tigers got a warm welcome back into the section tournament when they took on the No. 2 Marshall girls basketball team in the quarterfinals Wednesday night. After a competitive first 30 minutes, Marshall pulled away late to run away with a 72-42 win in the teams’ first meeting since 2019.

Prior to this season, Hutchinson spent two years in Section 6AAA. They reached the section semifinals both seasons, losing to Academy of Holy Angels each time. Marshall didn’t let them get that far in their return to 2AAA.

Reese Drake came out of the gates flaming hot to start the section tournament. The sophomore guard scored 6 unanswered points to open the game and, after Zoe Verhasselt ended Hutchinson’s drought with a 3-pointer 2:20 into the game, Drake came back with another layup to make the score 8-3. She scored 16 of her 19 points in the first half and finished the game 8 of 16 from the field. Her 50% field goal percentage tied her with Paige Gillingham for the highest on the team among players with at least two attempts.

“I thought [Drake] happened to be in the right place at the right time. She recognized openings in the defense and took advantage,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “It was a good start by her but I think it was also just a good job by our kids cutting hard and finding people.”

While no other Marshall players were able to score in the first six minutes of the game, they found a way to still contribute to a win. Reese Graven had an offensive rebound and an assist on Reese Drake’s first basket of the game and then got a piece of a shot on the next defensive possession. Kennedy Drake also came up with a steal to set up Reese Drake’s third layup and was the first other Tiger to score a basket.

Graven dominated the glass in the game. The 5-foot-10 guard finished the night with a game-high nine rebounds, including six of Marshall’s 14 offensive boards. Bigler’s additional seven rebounds helped Marshall claim a 32-28 rebounding advantage on the night, including a 14-5 offensive rebounding margin. Petersen led Hutchinson with eight rebounds while Verhasselt added another seven.

Hutchinson rallied after Reese Drake’s solo run. A Hannah Peterson layup through contact made it a one-possession game for the visiting Tigers and Verhasselt knocked down a layup to make it a 1-point game. Averie McGill then forced a tie-up to gain possession through a jump ball and then knocked down the go-ahead 3-pointer early in the shot clock for a 10-8 Hutchinson lead.

Kennedy Drake ended Hutchinson’s 7-0 run with her first basket of the game, a go-ahead 3-pointer. Taleigha Bigler then continued the 3-point barrage with consecutive shots from the top of the key to extend Marshall’s lead to 17-10.

Bigler finished the night as Marshall’s second-leading scorer with 14 points with a game-high four 3-pointers. Her three assists were second only to Reese Drake’s four, each of whom finished with one turnover.

From there, Marshall seized all momentum. The hometown Tigers closed out the half by turning defense into offense. Reese Drake and Bigler came up with steals on consecutive Hutchinson baseline inbound attempts in the final 20 seconds and each turned the turnover into a layup, extending Marshall’s lead to 40-25 at halftime.

While Marshall held a 15-point lead at the break, Verhasselt was a one-girl wrecking crew for Hutchinson. She was responsible for 15 of Hutchinson’s 25 first-half points. Verhasselt finished the game with 26 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field and 5 of 7 shooting from 3-point range. Peterson was the only other Hutchinson player with multiple makes from the field on the night, finishing with 7 points on 3 of 7 shooting.

“We just talked about the fact that you guys [Marshall] need to account for [Verhasselt],” Westby said. “One of the things I thought we did a poor job of was… as soon as we shoot the ball, they would leak her out. There were times that she was able to get open and get some layups as a result, so that was something we felt like we needed to change.”

Aside from Bigler and Verhasselt, Kennedy Drake was the only player on either team to knock down multiple shots from long range. She finished the night 3 of 9 from beyond the arc for 11 points.

Morgan Bjella scored the first point of the second half with a free throw but Verhasselt came back with a 3-pointer. From there, McGill came up with another steal to set up Verhasselt with a transition basket and Verhasselt hit again from 3-point range to trim the Marshall lead to 8 points, 41-33.

Marshall went on a five-minute scoring drought before Gillingham brought Marshall’s lead back to double digits. She knocked down a corner 3 and then stole the ball to set up her own layup to give Marshall a 46-35 advantage with 12:20 to play.

After a basket by Hutchinson’s Olivia Caldwell, Gillingham came up with steals on each of Marshall’s next two defensive possessions and, after a few scoreless minutes, Gillingham came up with another pair of steals and a layup to bring Marshall’s lead back to 48-37 with 10 minutes to play. She finished the night with 12 points.

“We need Paige to use her quickness and she did that. As a result, she gave them a lot of problems,” Westby said. “She’s an explosive kid. She’s done those sort of things throughout the season.”

Behind Gillingham’s four steals, Marshall finished with an 8-20 advantage in the turnover battle. Reese Drake, Graven and Morgan Bjella each had a pair of steals for Marshall while Hutchinson finished with just three steals as a team.

Hutchinson was never able to come back within single digits for the remainder of the game. Marshall subbed out its starters for the final four minutes of play.

Hutchinson guard Cora Bjorngjeld left the game five minutes into the second half with a lower body injury. She was helped off the court and did not return to play.

Marshall, now 20-8 overall on the season, will take on No. 3 Mankato East in the Section 2AAA semifinals on Saturday at 7:45 p.m. The Tigers went on the road and defeated Mankato East 70-35 when they last met on Dec. 16. Still after a slow 5-5 start, the Cougars have gone 12-4 since Jan. 1, including an 8-game win streak from Jan. 12 through Feb. 6. They defeated sixth-seeded Worthington 88-36 in the section quarterfinals on Wednesday. The winner will face No. 1 St. Peter or No. 4 New Ulm in the finals.

“I think you just need to start over. That was a long time ago and the basketball season’s long. A lot of things have changed since then,” Westby said. “We were ready to go in [the last game against Mankato East] and I think we maybe caught them off guard a little bit. They’ll be ready this time.”