Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall guard Taleigha Bigler (11) drives to the basket for a layup during a prep girls basketball game against Mankato West on Tuesday in Marshall.

MARSHALL — Dominant offense and defense led the sixth-ranked Marshall girls basketball team to a one-sided non-conference victory over Mankato West on Tuesday night. The Tigers built up a 25-point lead in the first 10 minutes and never looked back, cruising to an 88-41 victory.

Marshall didn’t waste any time getting into an offensive and defensive rhythm in the game. Avery Fahl and Avery Schneekloth trapped the Scarlets into a turnover near midcourt to set up Schneekloth’s first layup of the game, and Reese Drake grabbed a defensive rebound before sending an outlet pass to Schneekloth for another easy basket.

The Tigers ran with that spark for a run of 18 unanswered points over the game’s first six minutes, capped off by a corner 3 from Fahl.

“There’s not a day that goes by in practice that we don’t work on defense, so it’s good to see it pay off,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “There are going to be nights where [the ball’s not going in the basket], so if you can defend well, you’re going to be able to hang around.”

Drake led Marshall’s scoring efforts on the night with 21 points on 9 of 14 shooting. She also grabbed 10 total rebounds for the double-double, and dished out seven assists on one turnover. Each of those numbers, along with her three offensive rebounds and three 3-pointers, were team-highs.

Fahl, Schneekloth and Danielle Nubile contributed 14, 13 and 10 points respectively while Taleigha Bigler scored another 9.

As a team, Marshall shot 58% from the field and 34% from 3 on 29 attempts. Mankato shot 27% from the field and 20% from 3 on 20 attempts.

Mankato West first got on the board when Allison Carter rebounded a teammate’s airball and put itback in for 2 points. The Scarlets followed up with a free throw and a layup to cut the gap to 15 points before the Tigers rattled off another 10 unansweed points to build their lead up to 23.

By the time halftime came around, Marshall built up a 51-16 lead. Drake led the charge with 15 first-half points, followed by 10 from Schneekloth, 9 from Bigler and 8 from Fahl. Olivia Downs led Mankato West with 7.

Marshall led by 50 points by the time running clock kicked in and rested its starters for the bulk of the second half. The lead continued to grow as the reserves looked right at home on the court.

“We had some kids off the bench that gave us some really good minutes. You look at Landry Graven, boy, she had a great night both defensively as well as putting the ball in the basket,” Westby said. “We’re going to need some more of those kids down the road, so these minutes that they get are really important and they certainly made the most of it tonight.”

Bigler dished out five assists while snagging three steals in the game while Nubile was the team’s second-leading rebounder with seven boards. The Tigers finished with a 43-22 edge on the glass and a 13-18 advantage in the turnover battle.

The Tigers improve to 12-2 with the win and ai to extend their winning streak to eight games when they host Belle Plaine (6-5) on Friday at 7:15 p.m.