Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall senior guard Taleigha Bigler begins to drive toward the basket in the second half against Jackson County Central Tuesday night at Southwest Minnesota State University. The Tigers defeated the Huskies 86-48.

MARSHALL — Taking control from the jump and firing on all cylinders, the fifth-ranked Marshall girls basketball team closed the 2025 calendar year with an 86-48 Big South Conference win over Jackson County Central Tuesday night on the final day of the girls holiday tournament at Southwest Minnesota State University. Reese Drake and Taleigha Bigler led the Tigers with a combined 46 points, 12 assists and six steals.

“We did a lot of good things, especially early on. We were able to play a lot of kids, and that’s always a good thing,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “We did some things in terms of mixing defenses that we don’t normally do, and I think that’s always a good thing.”

The Tigers put together a 32-point halftime lead, 56-24, and put the game away early with the help of perimeter shooting and defense. Marshall finished with 11 3-pointers — five of which came from Drake — as well as 18 steals and forced 23 JCC turnovers.

Drake finished with a game-high 27 points and seven assists along with three steals, and Bigler added in 19 points, five assists, a team-high eight rebounds and another trio of steals. Danielle Nubile also had a big game with 13 points and two steals.

The Tigers wasted no time in building a double-digit lead and never looked back, starting the game on an 11-0 run.

Drake got the scoring started with a layup after Marshall won tipoff, as Avery Schneekloth followed with a field goal as did Avery Fahl with a 3-pointer.

Marshall ran its full-court press to quickly set the defensive tone, and a Drake steal led to a Schneekloth fastbreak layup followed with a Nubile post-up down low to cap off the opening run.

The Huskies got on the board with a free throw, just as Nubile and Fahl each responded with a 3-pointer of their own to extend to a 17-3 edge.

Bigler, Marshall’s primary facilitator, caught fire midway through the first half on both ends of the floor. She put together a sequence in which she grabbed two offensive rebounds to clean up her own shot, knocked down a 3-pointer, snagged a steal and hit a fast break layup to put Marshall ahead 45-15. Bigler had 11 points in the first half.

“She [Bigler] has the ball in her hands a lot, and that’s a good thing for our team, she’s comfortable doing that,” Westby said. “She’s had games where she’s scored a lot, and then she’s had games where she’s been a little bit more of a facilitator … She can do it all.”

Drake also had a hot hand, and went on a run herself between a pair of 3-pointers and layups. Drake drilled in four 3s and led with 22 points in the opening half.

JCC switched to a zone defense, yet Marshall adjusted quickly with its outside ball movement before looking inside the paint or finding an open look at the perimeter.

“We haven’t seen a lot of zone this year, so it was good to see us execute,” Westby said regarding Marshall’s zone offense. “Especially in the first half, I thought we were pretty crisp on offense versus the zone.”

Showing resiliency, Schneekloth gave up a turnover on the offensive end yet stole the ball right back after coming up behind JCC after crossing half court, which led to a Bigler and-1 fast break layup. Schneekloth also finished with three steals to her 8 points.

Marshall ended the half with a Sydney Towne steal and layup, and another pair of 3-pointers from Drake. Westby credited his team’s perimeter shooting, noting that the team has several players that can shoot efficiently from deep this season.

The Tigers never lost sight of their momentum throughout the second half, as Nubile opened with a pair of buckets down low and Bigler continued to facilitate the offense before Westby put in his reserves to finish out the night.

Marshall finished shooting 52% from the field and 33% from deep, and held JCC to 46-27% clips.

Marshall (8-2) will next travel to Brandon Valley (3-0) in South Dakota on Friday with a 7 p.m. tipoff.

“That’ll be a big test for us for sure, at their place,” Westby said. “They’re number one [ranked] in South Dakota right now, so that’ll be a big test. So, we’ll see if we can get it figured out.”