Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall forwards Avery Schneekloth (left) and Paige Gillingham react with their teammates after the final buzzer sounded in the Tigers' win over New Ulm in the Section 2AAA championship game on Wednesday at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter

ST. PETER — After a back-and-forth first half, the top-seeded Marshall girls basketball team seized momentum to capture an 82-69 victory in its Section 2AAA championship game against No. 2 New Ulm at Gustavus Adolphus College. The Tigers, appearing in their seventh consecutive section championship game, will now make their second state tournament appearance in three years after falling just shy to St. Peter in 2024.

“I think as a team, we really showed up and just played our hearts out,” Marshall senior forward Paige Gillingham said. “You could tell on the court that we left it all our there.”

Marshall guard Reese Drake also added that the team’s loss last year to St. Peter gave the group an extra motivational boost heading into Wednesday’s matchup.

Wednesday’s section final marked the third time this season the two teams had met, though neither team was at full strength for the entirety of either matchup. Taleigha Bigler fouled out in the teams’ first meeting, an 83-79 win on Dec. 3, while Brooklyn Lewis was out with an injury when the Tigers won the rematch in Marshall by a score of 80-53 on Jan. 16.

The Tigers, ranked No. 2 in the latest coaches poll, will now await their seeding for the Class AAA state tournament. The state quarterfinals will be played at Maturi Pavilion on Wednesday, March 12 starting at 10 a.m.

“We really wanted to do it for the seniors and for the team. Now we just really want to show up at state and give it our all,” Schneekloth said.

The Tigers head into the state tournament with a record of 17-1 while New Ulm finishes its season at 21-8.

A big part of the Tigers’ success on the offensive end of the court came from its versatility. Reese Drake and Avery Schneekloth scored 20 points each, with Drake shooting 6 of 11 and Schneekloth shooting 9 of 12.

Avery Fahl also came on strong in the second half to finish the night with 18 points on 6 of 12 shooting, making a game-high four 3-pointers on nine attempts, while Gillingham added another 15 points on 7 of 14 shooting.

When asked about her performance, Schneekloth credited her teammates for helping her get in a position to score. Namely, Taleigha Bigler finished with 14 assists on just two turnovers, as well as 10 rebounds for a double-double, while Gillingham grabbed another seven boards. Schneekloth also grabbed nine rebounds, helping Marshall to a 34-27 edge on the glass.

“[Schneekloth] had a great practice yesterday and I remember telling the coaches, ‘If she plays like this tomorrow, we’re going to be in good shape,'” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “And boy, she sure did. We needed everything she gave us tonight.”

Leading by 3 points at halftime, the Tigers found their offensive and defensive rhythms early in the second half as their lead ballooned to as many as 20 points in the first seven minutes.

“We were probably fortunate to be ahead at halftime,” Westby said. “Our kids came out in the second half and they decided that they wanted to runa couple offensive sets that they were really comfortable with and we got a couple of quick scores there, and it just kind of took off from there.”

Westby also credited New Ulm as having shot really well in the first half, but said he was proud of his team for having a nice burst in the second half.

Gillingham knocked down a 3-pointer and a layup on consecutive possessions early in the second half to give Marshall a 47-40 lead, its largest of the game so far. After the two teams traded baskets, however, the Tigers found a new gear.

Drake hit a layup immediately out of a New Ulm timeout and connected with Schneekloth on a baseline inbound to bring Marshall’s lead to double digits.

Another pair of layups from Schneekloth and Gillingham brought Marshall up to 10 unanswered points and, after Brooklyn Lewis ended the New Ulm drought with a free throw, the Tigers’ run continued with a Fahl offensive rebound and jump shot caping off a 14-1 run with Marshall’s largest lead of the game, 63-43, with 10 minutes remaining.

New Ulm answered with a 6-0 run but a Drake layup and a Kezlyn Pinckney 3-pointer ended the New Ulm run. The Eagles were never able to cut the deficit any closer than 12 points.

“I think we went into that second half just knowing what we had to do and just getting it done,” Gillingham said. “We fought our way up, got up, and then we kept our lead. Just as a team, we all really came together.

“We said in the locker room that this is our time. Let’s go get it right here, right now.”

New Ulm led by as many as 10 points in the opening half when the Tigers flipped the switch. After a Betsy Joyce 3-pointer extended New Ulm’s lead to 28-18 with eight minutes remaining, Drake connected on a layup and Taleigha Bigler assisted another for Kezlyn Pinckney. 

On the defensive end, Schneekloth came up with a block to set Fahl up with a layup in transition, and Gillingham hit consecutive layups — the latter of which came after she recovered a pass that Pinckney tipped — to tie the game up at 28-28.

After a four-minute scoring drought, Brooklyn Lewis put the Eagles back on top with a layup. Schneekloth and Maggie Joyce converted through contact for their respective teams, but neither could get the ensuing free throw to go down. Still, an offensive rebound on Joyce’s miss set up Lewis with another go-ahead basket.

Lewis carried the offensive load for New Ulm early on. She scored 10 of New Ulm’s first 15 points as the Eagles built up a 15-10 advantage through the game’s first four minutes. Lewis finished the night with 17 points, finishing second on the team to Morgan Hulke’s 22.

“I thought there was too much basket penetration and they were able to kick the ball to open shooters, and Brooklyn Lewis was a big part of that,” Westby said. “Fortunately, we got things reined in a little bit and made that nice push to start the second half.

New Ulm finished the game shooting an efficient 41% from the field and 40% from 3-point range on 30 attempts. Yet, Marshall forced the Eagles into 18 turnovers while coughing the ball up 10 times themselves.

Gillingham led the turnover battle efforts with five steals and Schneekloth added another three. Schneekloth also tallied three blocks in the game while no other player on either side recorded one.

In the waning minutes of the half, Schneekloth hit a layup to make it a one-possession game. After Schneekloth got a piece of a New Ulm 3-point attempt, Fahl drained a go-ahead 3 to make the score 36-34 with 90 seconds remaining in the half. The bucket gave Marshall its first lead since the 11-minute mark.

New Ulm answered Fahl’s 3 on the other end, but Bigler tied it on the offensive end and Gillingham hit a go-ahead and-1 with 26 seconds remaining. New Ulm had one last chance to tie it before the half, but Gillingham stuffed the Eagles in the paint as Marshall went into the locker room with a 40-37 advantage.

Hulke and Maddie Backer each tallied six assists for New Ulm while Drake added another five for Marshall.