“The emotions are so good. I’m so happy that we’re doing it with these seniors. It would be really sad to end it now, after all the work that we put in, it’s really just so fun,” Marshall junior Avery Schneekloth said. “I love this team so much this year. This team will forever be remembered. It was just a lot of emotions, like you get to continue on [with] your season.”

Continuing the season’s trend, Marshall didn’t take long to find its rhythm before taking to a double-digit lead in the first half and never looking back. The Tigers continued to force turnovers off their full-court pressure and capitalize on the extra offensive opportunities, and built a 26-point halftime lead and cruised from there.

“This team this whole year has been really fun,” Marshall senior Taleigha Bigler said. “We put in a lot of work just to win together … This was one of our goals we talked about at the beginning of the season, and hopefully we can keep on going next week.”

Reese Drake led the way with 34 points on 60% field-goal shooting, along with going 4 of 6 from deep and a perfect 6 for 6 at the foul line. She also posted team-highs of eight assists and seven steals. Bigler followed with 21 points on 70% shooting, and hit 2 of 3 from the perimeter with five assists and four steals.

Photo by Samantha Davis: The Marshall girls basketball team stands with the Section 2AAA championship trophy after defeating Jordan Tuesday night in St. Peter to return back to the Class 3A state tournament.

Avery Fahl led with six rebounds to her 9 points, which came from a trio of 3-pointers.

Marshall didn’t trail the entire night as Drake got the game’s scoring started with a 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Several Tigers caught a bit of the hot hand in the opening half, especially Drake, Bigler and Fahl, who each went on personal runs to help Marshall continue pulling away early on.

Jordan played in a zone defense, but Marshall’s perimeter shooting, patience and ball movement didn’t face many struggles in getting shots to fall when running a zone offense.

Although the Jaguars forced the Tigers deep into their shot clock on the first few possessions, Fahl and Drake hit back-to-back 3s for an 11-6 Marshall start.

Photo by Samantha Davis: The Marshall girls basketball team hugs one another after defeating Jordan Tuesday night in St. Peter to win the Section 2AAA championship and earn a spot back in the Class AAA state tournament.

From there, Marshall embarked on a 15-4 run to take a 26-10 lead and shooting became contagious between the players.

“I feel like we have such good team chemistry, because we’ve been playing together for so long,” Schneekloth said of the team’s offensive depth. “We just know where to make a pass, and we always try to be unselfish.”

Drake scored 6 straight points herself between an and-1 attack to the basket and a 3-pointer, just as Maddie Panka got in on the scoring action with a 3 of her own as well. Panka also finished with 11 points on the night on perfect 3 of 3 shooting from the field.

Bigler did just the same, going on a personal 6-0 run after fighting through contact on a layup with the free throw and a 3. Fahl also followed that up with a pair of consecutive 3-pointers from the corner, along with another Bigler layup, to give Marshall a 37-14 edge.

The Tigers ended the first half firing on all cylinders, highlighted by a Panka euro-step through the lane for a bucket, and Marshall went into the locker room with a commanding 48-22 lead.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall's Maddie Panka (left), Danielle Nubile (center) and Sydney Towne (right) celebrate after the Tigers defeated Jordan Tuesday night in St. Peter to win the Section 2AAA championship and earn a spot back in the Class AAA state tournament.

“We just work on it a lot at practice, we constantly work on it to where we have the air capacity and momentum for that,” Schneekloth said regarding Marshall’s fast-pace offense. “I feel like our press really brings our momentum. Like, we get a steal and we get a fastbreak and it really just keeps on going up from there.”

Jordan found offensive spurts throughout the second half, but Marshall stayed honed in on its defensive pressure along with continuing its efficient shooting to stay ahead and officially secure the Tigers’ ticket to state.

The game was briefly paused during the second half due to a medical emergency in the crowd, but resumed play after the fan was taken care of.

“Towards the end after the delay, I think it was really [that] they [Jordan] kind of had their wind back, so we had to put our press back on and just kind of slow down, and get an easy layup so you can get the momentum back,” Bigler said. “I think we were able to just relax and keep them where we wanted them.”

Marshall swept its way through the section tournament with a pair of wins by 60 and 53 points over Worthington and Mankato West, respectively. Jordan defeated Mankato East 91-35 in the quarterfinals, and prevailed for a competitive win by 8 points over New Ulm in the semifinals.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall junior Avery Schneekloth cuts down the net after the Tigers defeated Jordan Tuesday night in St. Peter to win the Section 2AAA championship and earn a spot back in the Class AAA state tournament. All players along with head coach Dan Westby cut an opportunity to cut a piece of the net.

The Tigers, who reached the championship game last season, now make their fourth state tournament appearance in the past six years and 15th appearance in program history.

“It’s so exciting. I can’t wait to spend time with these teammates and connect more. It’s going to be our final week with this group of girls, and it’s going to be like a whole different team next year,” Schneekloth said. “So, this is exciting that we get to go there and finish off on a high note at state.”

The Class 3A state tournament is slated to begin next Wednesday with the quarterfinals at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis, before moving over to Williams Arena for the semifinals and championship next Thursday and Saturday.

“We will put in more work the end of this week and Monday to get ready,” Bigler said. “We are really excited to get another opportunity to hopefully get back to what we did last year.”

Marshall moves to 25-4 overall, and seeding for state will be released over the coming days.

Photo by Samantha Davis: The Marshall girls basketball bench celebrates after a Taleigha Bigler 3-pointer in the second half against Jordan Tuesday night in the Section 2AAA championship in St. Peter. The Tigers defeated the Jaguars 84-69 to win the section and earn a state tournament berth.