This story is sponsored by Total Electric
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team could not overcome a slow start and despite a valiant comeback in the second half, dropped a 51-45 decision to Hudson in its opening game at the 15th annual Marshfield Tiger Girls Basketball Holiday Tournament on Friday night at Marshfield High School.
Hudson raced out to a 15-3 lead as Marshfield struggled out of the gate, missing 13 of its first 14 shot attempts.
The Raiders pushed their advantage to 22-5 on a basket by Gretchen Whitten before Marshfield was able to finish the half strong.
Zaida Kolbeck ended Hudson’s 7-0 run with a hoop, Hailey Klumb converted a three-point play and Emma Ridgway scored inside as Marshfield ended the half on a 12-6 run to cut the deficit to 28-17 at the break.
Marshfield was just 6-for-26 from the field in the first half, missing all five of its 3-point attempts, but the surge over the final four minutes kept the Tigers in it.
Marshfield was able to whittle Hudson’s lead down to six after a 3-pointer by Devyn LeMoine and a basket by Kolbeck, making it 41-35 with 8:16 to go and the Tigers looked poised to make it a game.
However, Hudson responded with a 6-2 run, keyed by a 3-pointer from Whitten, and this time Marshfield could not recover.
The Tigers made it a four-point game late after a rebound and basket by Kylie Laufenberg with 33 seconds left. Hudson missed three-straight bonus free throw opportunities prior, but was able to make two of four at the line in the losing seconds as Marshfield did not score again.
Devin Larson had 13 points, Whitten added 12 and Ella Wolfe had nine points and 12 rebounds for the Raiders (6-3), who held a 40-25 rebounding advantage.
Kolbeck topped Marshfield with 12 points as the Tigers ended up shooting just 29 percent (15-for-52) from the field and saw their four-game winning streak end.
“I think I saw something from them in that second half that we really haven’t had to see too often in those last four games,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “There was a point in that first half where we couldn’t score the ball, and when you don’t score and don’t score and don’t score, it makes you not play as hard on the defensive end because you are deflated.
“I give my kids a lot of credit for just digging in and making them uncomfortable. Those are the things that we can take away from the game and build on that tomorrow. As long as we learn from that and get better tomorrow, I can live with that.”
The tournament concludes Saturday with Hudson taking on Wausau West at 12:30 p.m. and Marshfield playing Oshkosh West at 2:15 p.m. Oshkosh West defeated Wausau West 59-53 on Friday.
Raiders 51, Tigers 45
Hudson 28 23 – 51
Marshfield 17 28 – 45
HUDSON (51): Ally Yaeger 1-1 0-0 3, Olivia Osterhues 0-2 0-0 0, Greta Belany 1-2 1-4 3, Libby Bartz 3-4 0-0 6, Maggie McConnell 1-5 1-3 3, Devin Larson 4-9 3-4 13, Jadyn Mataczynski 2-6 0-0 4, Ella Wolfe 3-10 3-4 9, Gretchen Whitten 3-4 3-4 10. FG: 18-43. FT: 11-19. 3-pointers: 4-12 (Larson 2-6, Yaeger 1-1, Whitten 1-1, Belany 0-1, Bartz 0-1, McConnell 0-1, Mataczynski 0-3). Rebounds: 40 (Wolfe 12). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-3.
MARSHFIELD (45): McKenzie Holm 2-15 3-3 8, Zaida Kolbeck 3-12 5-9 12, Devyn LeMoine 2-2 0-0 5, Hailey Klumb 1-8 3-5 5, Lauryn Katzenberger 3-6 0-0 6, Emma Ridgway 3-6 1-2 7, Kylie Laufenberg 1-3 0-0 2. FG: 15-52. FT: 12-19. 3-pointers: 3-15 (LeMoine 1-1, Kolbeck 1-5, Holm 1-8, Katzenberger 0-1). Rebounds: 25 (Ridgway 6). Turnovers: 9. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: Holm. Record: 4-3.