One season after finishing as Class AAA state runners-up, the Tigers finished this year with a 27-5 overall record, went undefeated in the Big South to claim the conference title and repeated as Section 2AAA champions before coming home with more state hardware. As such, Westby said expectations were high heading into the year.

“The good thing about having a team like we did, a team that is as experienced as the one we had, was the kids were fine with those expectations. In fact, I think they set pretty high expectations for themselves,” Westby said. “That’s always fun when you can do that, and you have a group like that. They’re not going to get rattled in a tough game or anything like that. They’re focused on doing what they need to do. Getting to the state tournament and winning (at) the state tournament was a goal all year long for those kids.”

As a result of spending the entire season state-ranked in the Class 3A coach’s polls, the success on the court came as much as it did off. The bond and team chemistry between the Tigers played an obvious role in competition.

“You could certainly see it at the end of last year, but this year, I thought as a group they just took it to another level, where nobody really cared who scored the points or who got the credit, as long as they were doing things the right way,” Westby said. “I think when you have a group like that, you can do some pretty special things.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall girls basketball head coach Dan Westby calls out to the team from the sidelines in the Class 3A state quarterfinals against Totino-Grace on March 11 at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.

Marshall returned a majority of its roster this season, with several players leveling up their contributions and stepping into bigger roles.

The senior backcourt duo of Taleigha Bigler and Reese Drake were pivotal on both ends of the floor. Drake averaged a team-high 19.3 points and six assists along with 3.3 steals and 4.8 rebounds, and Bigler followed with averages of 12.4 points, 4.5 assists, 4.3 boards and a team-best 3.8 steals.

“Those two, they are great leaders … What I think made them so effective, is they had such a good feel for one another, on where the other one was going to be on the court and what needed to be done,” Westby said. “They had such a comfort level with one another. I think it not only made it easy for them, but I just think it made our team enjoyable to watch because of what those two were able to do.”

Notably, juniors Avery Schneekloth and Danielle Nubile both elevated their game and the team was able to utilize their height, both standing at 6-foot and 6-foot-1, respectively.

Schneekloth improved from averaging 10 points and 3.5 rebounds last year, to 14.9 and 4.5 this season, along with maintaining 0.6 blocks and 2.1 steals a night. Nubile went from 2.9 points and 1.3 rebounds up to 8.7 points and 4.8 boards this season, and led the team with nearly a block a night.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall girls basketball head coach Dan Westby (center) draws up a play for the team in the Class 3A state quarterfinals against Totino-Grace on March 11 at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.

“Both [Schneekloth and Nubile] had very good seasons, and we’re just excited about the fact that they’re both coming back next year,” Westby said. “But, they also need to understand that their roles are going to change, because now they’re going to be put in that leadership position.”

Marking a new achievement to the already long-list of recognitions Marshall has received, the Tigers’ entire starting lineup earned Big South Conference awards this season. Drake, Bigler, Avery Fahl and Schneekloth were each named to the All-Conference team, and Nubile was an honorable mention.

Fahl was the Tigers’ leading 3-pointer shooter with 68 makes on 45% shooting, averaging 2.5 3-pointers a game and 9.7 points.

“That’s never happened before. I think they are all well deserved. It was nice that the other coaches in the conference recognized that and were willing to vote for those kids, which that’s not often the case. It’s the first time we’ve ever had that happen,” Westby said. “Happy for those kids. They all deserved it, and hopefully they understand that getting to that wasn’t easy.”

Bigler and Drake also were named to the Class 3A All-State team this season.

Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall girls basketball head coach Dan Westby calls out a play from the sidelines in the Class 3A state quarterfinals against Totino-Grace on March 11 at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis.

Despite making a habit of forcing running clock in conference games, Marshall lined up some tough non-conference competition this season that gave the team more opportunities to level up its play.

Marshall played Class 4A top-ranked Hopkins, and other regular-season ranked opponents such as Delano, Duluth Marshall, Brandon Valley of South Dakota, Stewartville and Hill Murray.

Hopkins, Stewartville and Duluth Marshall also went on to become state runners-up this year in Class 4A, 3A and 2A, respectively.

“It was funny, because those kids would stop me in the hallway during the school day and say, ‘Hey, we want to play this team,’ or ‘We want to play that team,’ and it was always the better teams in the state. That’s partially why we tried to beef up our schedule this year, was because the kids wanted to be challenged,” Westby said. “I think anytime you can put yourself in those situations where you’re playing a competitive schedule, I think in the end, it’s always going to help you out at playoff time … It’s only going to make you better, win or lose.”

Coming off leading the volleyball team to its 10th state title this past fall, Westby has been able to take moments through both seasons to appreciate the talent on the floor to understand the entertaining community impact the Tigers have built.

“I’ve said this many times, that I have the best seat in the house. I was able to enjoy watching those kids play. Just the number of people, not only in town, but at the state tournament, the number of people who didn’t even have a connection to our team [that] made the comment about how much they enjoyed watching those kids play, that’s a credit to them,” Westby said. “They were willing to do what it took, and [I’m] just really proud of what those kids were able to achieve.”

Westby also noted that he appreciates the Marshall community continuing to come out and travel to the Tigers’ games over the years, also citing that he hopes the team understands how much pride the community holds in supporting the group.

Another part of the job Westby and his coaching staff take seriously is scouting, which the team has acknowledged over past seasons.

“We get a huge scouting report. We are very lucky that our coaches put that together for us, so that we are prepared,” Fahl said after Marshall’s state quarterfinal win over Totino-Grace on March 11 in Minneapolis.

“All four of our coaches were heavily involved in that,” Westby said. “We always expect kids to give everything they have, and I think our coaches understand that if we’re going to have an expectation for the kids, then we better make sure that we’re doing the same thing.”

Marshall was spearheaded this season by seniors Drake, Bigler, Fahl and Bryn Webb.

“I had a coach that was at the [basketball] state tournament and watched our team play, and her and I were texting back and forth. I just made the comment, I said, ‘I don’t even want to think about starting the next season without that group of seniors,’ and right now, I don’t,” Westby said. “I just hold them in such high regard, and they’re going to be hard to replace.”

The memories made and standards that were exceeded this season is what made this year a special run, to which Westby will not forget, nor will the players or community.

“Our entire coaching staff was disappointed that this season had to come to an end, but it does need to be over at some point. This group was just really a special group,” Westby said. “[We] really enjoyed being around this group. I think that’s why we felt so fortunate that we did make it to the state tournament, because we got that week together with them at the end.”