Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall’s Taleigha Bigler (11) and Danielle Nubile (23) contest a jumpshot during a prep girls basketball game against New Ulm, Tuesday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Selfless play and relentless defense allowed the No. 3 Marshall girls basketball team to live up to its preseason ranking when it kicked off the season against New Ulm on Tuesday in Big South Conference play. The Tigers forced 24 turnovers and led by as many as 66 points before settling for a 107-43 win.

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Marshall lost to Benilde-St. Margaret’s in last year’s championship game. As such, the girls came in with a bit of a chip on their shoulder, Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. Many of the girls basketball players were also on the volleyball team, which had a similar experience of starting this season ready to roll after falling short in the 2024 state championship before redeeming itself with a state title this year.

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“When you lose in a state championship, it kind of puts a sour taste in your mouth and you carry that with you for a long time,” Westby said. “Hopefully, we’ll continue to build on this. It’s just one game, but it was a good start… Hopefully, we’ll just continue to get better and experience more success down the road.”

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Marshall led for the entire game after the first possession, but it was the final eight minutes that Marshall started to make its move. The Tigers led 36-20 but closed the half on a 34-4 run, including a stretch of 19 unanswered points, to go into halftime with a 70-24 lead.

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“Just our chemistry, working together… and our friendships [helped us find that early momentum],” Marshall forward Danielle Nubile said. “We were very pumped for this game, so that energy just went into playing.”

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Coming out of the locker room, Marshall’s shooting was just as hot as it was at the close of the first. Taleigha Bigler hit a pair of 3s while Avery Fahl added another on Marshall’s first 3 possessions, with a Joyce layup and a Brooklyn Lewis and-1 answering Bigler’s buckets. A pair of Reese Drake 3-pointers shortly thereafter brought the score to 91-31 when Marshall made a mass substitution to take out its starters with just under 14 minutes to play.

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Maggie Joyce stole the game’s opening tip-off for an uncontested layup to give New Ulm the first points, but a Fahl 3-pointer and a Danielle Nubile layup quickly put Marshall on top. The Eagles hung around for the next six minutes, trailing 12-9 when Marshall went on a 10-0 run to take control of the game.

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Red-hot shooting from beyond the arc made the Marshall offense nearly unstoppable. Marshall shot 61% with 17 makes from beyond the arc in the game, including five 3s each from Drake, Fahl and Bigler on seven, nine and six attempts, respectively.

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Drake led all scorers in the game with 23 points, followed by 19 from Bigler. Avery Schneekloth and Fahl also contributed 15 points apiece, while Nubile and Sydney Towne added 13 and 9, respectively.

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A big part of the Tigers’ ability to get everyone involved offensively came down to their selfless play. Bigler dished out 11 turnover-free assists while Schneekloth and Drake added seven and five, respectively, with one turnover each. As a team, Marshall logged 33 assists with five turnovers, while New Ulm finished with three assists on 24 turnovers.

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Marshall’s dominant first-half performance came on the back of a well-balanced scoring effort. Drake led the Tigers with 17 points, while Schneekloth, Fahl and Bigler also finished in double figures with 13, 12 and 11, respectively. Nubile also chipped in with 9 points, tying New Ulm’s leading scorer, Joyce.

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Defensive intensity set the tone early on and prevented New Ulm from battling its way back into the game. The Tigers’ press resulted in three steals each from Fahl, Schneekloth and Towne, and Fahl, Bigler and Nubile each also blocked a shot.

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Maggie Joyce shot 8 of 12 from the field with 18 points for New Ulm, finishing as the only Eagle in double figures. The rest of the team struggled, however; New Ulm shot 31% from the field and 1 of 10 from 3-point range in the loss.

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Nubile logged a team-leading seven rebounds, all on the defensive end for Marshall, while Jordan Boettger finished with five offensive and two defensive rebounds for New Ulm. Marshall outrebounded New Ulm 28-26 in the game, though New Ulm finished with an 8-6 edge on the offensive glass.

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Nu’ addition to the starting lineup

Nubile made her first varsity start for Marshall on Tuesday after making some key plays for the team in last year’s state championship game, shooting 3 of 4 from the field with 6 points and a pair of blocks. She carried that same momentum into a new role this time around, putting together a plus-43 +/- rating in just 18 minutes.

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“During practices, we always worked together as a team, so it was easy to get in there with everyone overall,” Nubile said.

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Westby said that he felt like he saw some nerves from Nubile earlier in the day before the game, but thought she did a nice job of shaking them off early and acclimating herself to the flow of the game.

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“She’s capable of giving us an inside presence that we really haven’t had for a long time, so hopefully she’ll just continue to work at getting better,” Wesby said.

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Everybody eats for Marshall

The Tigers had 11 different players score a point in the season opener, with Jennifer Lee, Bentley Krull and Leah Stelter each scoring their first varsity points. After subbing out with the game well in hand, the team’s starters and key reserves continued to provide energy from the bench for the younger players, jumping out of their seats to cheer on their teammates after a basket.

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“All 15 of [the players on the team] have done a great job in practice and worked hard, so everybody deserves their opportunity… but I think it was rather evident that our kids were looking forward to playing a game,” Westby said. “We’ve been practicing for three weeks… and they were really excited about having that opportunity. Secondly, we were just so pleased with how unselfish our kids were with the ball. Nobody cared who was scoring points, they were just genuinely excited for one another.”

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Up next

After picking up a win in its season opener, Marshall remains at home on Thursday to host Harrisburg (S.D.) at 7:15 p.m.

New Ulm falls to 1-1 with the loss and looks to get back in the win column when it hosts Waseca on Friday at 7 p.m.