Marshall will now take on Cretin-Derham Hall, a rematch of last year’s state semifinals, in the third-place game on Saturday, while Benilde-St. Margaret’s aims to complete the four-peat against Stewartville in the championship game.

“It’s sad knowing we only get one more game, but just playing with these girls, this whole season has been a blessing,” Marshall senior guard Reese Drake said.

“It’s raw right now, but I’m not concerned. I’m sure once that [third-place] game starts, we’ll get the same type of effort out of our kids,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “This group really cares about each other. Any time you have a situation like that, it doesn’t matter. And winning always feels better than losing, I don’t care what it is, so we’ll regroup and be ready to go on Saturday.”

Benilde and Marshall were all tied up at 24 points apiece with six minutes left in the first half when the Red Knights began to pull away. Pressley Watkins hit a midrange jumper to give the Knights the lead and Zaida Jenkins followed with a pair of free throws to build up a 4-point cushion.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Reese Drake (right) and Maddie Panka (left) hi-five Taleigha Bigler after a play in the Class AAA semifinals against Benilde-St. Margaret's Thursday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Leading 30-28, BSM continued to build momentum ahead of the break with layups from Jenkins and Kiera Willis and a Watkins 3 to bring the gap to 9 points. Still, Taleigha Bigler and Drake each hit a free throw in the final minute to trim the gap to 39-32 at the half.

Bigler and Drake led Marshall with 21 points each on the day, coming on 6 of 14 shooting with a pair of 3s from Bigler and 8 of 15 shooting for Drake.

Bigler was also one of the primary motors for the Marshall defense, coming away with eight steals to give Marshall a 9-16 edge in the turnover battle, though Benilde still outscored Marshall 18-14 in points off turnovers.

“[Forcing turnovers] has been kind of our M.O. all season long, our defensive pressure in the fullcourt maybe more than anything,” Westby said. “I thought our kids kept battling, and Reese mentioned getting off to a slow start, but we just kept chipping away.”

The Red Knights got off to a hot start in the second, with a pair of 3-pointers from Watkins and another from Sydney Friedly giving the Knights a 48-36 lead. Benilde retained that lead for most of the half until an Avery Fahl 3 cut the gap to 61-53 with 3:33 to play, giving Marshall a glimpse of hope, but the Knights only continued to pull away from there.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Taleigha Bigler (diving) and Avery Schneekloth (24) pressure Benilde-St. Margaret on defense and force a turnover in the Class AAA semifinals Thursday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Nubile had a big game on the glass for Marshall, grabbing nine rebounds along with 7 points and a block. Still, Benilde outrebounded Marshall 41-29 behind Mirabel Wismer’s 12 rebounds, and built a 12-10 edge on the offensive glass behind another five from Wismer.

“Just boxing out and trying to jump as high as I can, grab them and get them to these two [Bigler and Drake],” Nubile said of her focus on the glass during the game.

Benilde-St. Margaret’s started the game red-hot, generating five turnovers in the first four minutes to jump out to a 15-2 lead. The only Marshall points over the opening stretch came from a Nubile up-and-under two minutes in, but the Red Knights responded with a 9-0 run before the Tigers called a timeout.

The Tigers had an uncharacteristic off-night from 3-point range. Marshall shot 4 of 16 from beyond the arc, with three of those makes coming off Drake and Bigler’s five attempts. Benilde, meanwhile, shot 10 of 20 from beyond the arc.

“They had somebody standing right next to Avery Fahl the entire game. I mean, they were not going to let her shoot, and I guess if I was playing us, I’d probably think about doing the same thing,” Westby said. “She’s been so good all season long at shooting from beyond the arc, but yeah, it was a tough game.”

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall's Danielle Nubile goes in for a reverse layup in the Class AAA semifinals against Benilde-St. Margaret's Thursday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Marshall looked rejuvenated coming out of the huddle. Bigler dished an assist to Maddie Panka in the low post to end the Marshall drought, and then Bigler came up with a steal on the defensive end to set up a Drake layup to trim the gap back to single digits. Still, the Red Knights answered with a Watkins midrange jumper on the opposite end to bring their lead back to 11.

Bigler and Nubile helped Marshall fight its way back into the game with nine minutes left in the first half. Bigler came up with a steal before hitting Marshall’s first 3 of the game to cut the gap to 7.

On the defensive end, Nubile got a low-post stop before grabbing the defensive rebound, put in work in the post for another pair of points, and then tipped a pass to force a turnover that resulted in a Drake layup to cut the gap to 21-18 with eight minutes to play. The basket marked Marshall’s first time within one possession since the game’s first two minutes.

“I think we just settled in, did everything we could to get back and made the extra-effort plays to get each other open,” Bigler said. “Just play our game, we’re not going to change the way we play just because we’re down.”

Willis responded with a 3 for the Red Knights, but the Tigers kept pressing forward. Bigler got another layup to go down, and a carrying violation gave Marshall the ball back and Bigler capitalized with a pair of free throws.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior Reese Drake dribbles around a defender in the Class AAA semifinals against Benilde-St. Margaret's Thursday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

Bigler then came up with a steal and Nubile got fouled on a floater, knocking down both of the ensuing free throws to tie the game up at 24-all with six-and-a-half minutes left in the first half.

Watkins finished the night as Benilde’s leading scorer with 21 points on 8 of 15 shooting from the field and 5 of 8 shooting from 3. The Red Knight junior forward has already received offers from at least 13 Division I programs, including power conference schools such as Clemson, Kansas and Marquette.

“They’ve got two kids that are just major players. I think [Friedly and Watkins], they don’t get rattled. I thought [Watkins] made some really tough shots where she drives into the lane and she wouldn’t even be squared up to the basket, but it was going up there and it was going in,” Westby said. “They’ve got a good team, lot of talent, well-coached.”

Aiding in the Red Knights’ offensive attack, Jenkins and Friedly contributed 13 points each while Alivia Bell added another 9. Friedly also dished out a game-high six assists without a turnover, and her three blocks were second only to Wismer’s five.

Marshall now has a day off before taking on Cretin-Derham Hall in the Class AAA third-place match at the Gangelhoff Center in St. Paul on Saturday at noon. The Raiders fell to the third-place game with a 65-51 loss to top-seeded Stewartville on Thursday. Marshall defeated Cretin-Derham Hall 57-48 in last year’s semifinals.

Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall senior Avery Fahl (left) boxes out for a rebound in the Class AAA semifinals against Benilde-St. Margaret's Thursday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.

“I think [we] kind of just have to let this one go, have short-term memory loss with our mistakes and then just get back at it and be better on Saturday,” Bigler said.

Photo by Jake McNeill: The Marshall girls basketball team hi-fives with Benilde-St. Margaret's following the Class AAA semifinals Thursday afternoon at Williams Arena in Minneapolis.