Photo by Jake McNeill: Members of the Marshall girls basketball team hug on the bench as the seniors sub off of their home court for the last time in Tuesday's Section 2AAA quarterfinal game against Worthington in Marshall.

MARSHALL — From the starters to the end of the bench, everyone contributed for the top-seeded Marshall girls basketball team in its Section 2AAA quarterfinals win over No. 8 Worthington Tuesday night. The Tigers had nine different players knock down a field goal in the game as they cruised to a 83-23 win.

With four minutes left, Marshall subbed out seniors Reese Drake, Taleigha Bigler, Avery Fahl and Bryn Webb for the last time as Tigers. The quartet was greeted with a standing ovation as they closed out their final shift on the Marshall court.

“All of us thought we weren’t going to cry, but then we ended up crying because… all of us have been a part of this program for so long and it’s our last time playing on the Marshall court,” Fahl said.

“Most of the player I am today, I learned my moves and everything in this gym with the people around me. It’s pretty special to play in this gym with the community we have to support us,” Drake said. “Obviously our season isn’t over yet, but it’s our last time playing on this court that we’ve played on since we were little. So it’s pretty emotional that we’re not going to play on this Marshall court anymore.”

Fahl finished the night as Marshall’s leading scorer, shooting 7 of 11 from 3-point range for 23 points. Drake also added 20 points on 9 of 17 shooting, Bigler added another 12 points and Avery Schneekloth finished with 8.

The Tigers struggled to take the lid off the basket early, missing each of their first field goal attempts before Schneekloth drove to the rim for a layup after an offensive rebound about two minutes in.

A minute later, Marshall started to find a rhythm with back-to-back transition layups from Drake and Schneekloth, and Bigler came up with a steal and ran right to the cup for another layup to prompt a Worthington timeout.

Coming out of the huddle, Marshall caught fire. Schneekloth bounced a pass to Danielle Nubile in the paint for a bucket, Drake jumped a passing lane to come up with an uncontested layup, and a Bigler 3 gave Marshall 9 points in the span of a minute to seize all momentum.

Seven steals from Bigler and six from Drake helped Marshall to a 10-27 advantage in the turnover battle. The Tigers also had a major interior defensive presence, with two blocks from Danielle Nubile and one each from Schneekloth and Julia Fahl as Marshall limited Worthington to 18% shooting from the field and 8% shooting from 3-point range.

Avery Fahl also led Marshall on the glass in her final game as a Tiger. Her four offensive rebounds tied her younger sister Julia for a team-high, and her seven total rebounds tied Nubile for a team-high. Marshall outrebounded Worthington 46-22, including a 19-4 advantage on the offensive glass.

The Tigers’ tenacious defense shut out the Trojans for the first nine minutes of the game as the Tigers’ lead ballooned to 24 points. Alaina Feit ended the Worthington drought with a layup, but Marshall came right back with another 5 unanswered points.

It didn’t take long for Marshall to start working its bench into the game. The Tigers started rotating in their depth less than halfway through the first half, helping save their starters for what they hope to be a deep playoff run and giving the younger players some valuable postseason experience.

By halftime, Marshall built its lead up to 52-8 behind four of its five starters scoring 6 or more points. Fahl, Bigler and Drake led the way with 8, 12 and 15 points, respectively. No Worthington player scored more than 4 points in the half.

Fahl had the hot hand for the Tigers early in the second half, knocking down three 3-pointers in the first three minutes to more than double her point total, with one of the threes coming through heavy contact. The early scoring burst brought Marshall’s lead to more than 50 points and Marshall made a mass substitution to take out the starters.

“My teammates do a good job of getting me the ball, and it’s super nice to have teammates like that who are willing to pass and be unselfish,” Fahl said. “It’s fun, it’s what I do in practice, might as well do it in a game.”

Drake and Bigler finished with five and four assists, respectively, on the day, each committing one turnover.

Marshall improves to 23-4 on the year with the win and next competes in the Section 2AAA semifinals at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter on Saturday at noon. The Tigers will take on No. 4 Mankato West in the semifinals after the Scarlets defeated the Saints 74-73 on Tuesday night. Marshall previously defeated Mankato 88-41 back on Jan. 13.

“We usually take it one game at a time. Although that’s [getting back to the section final] is our goal, we’ve worked for this all season long, so just have to make sure we’re focused each game,” Drake said.