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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield girls basketball coach Heidi Michaelis indicated the Tigers expected more of Hudson than maybe its 8-15 record indicated heading into Saturday’s WIAA Division 1 regional final at the Marshfield High School Fieldhouse.
They got it.
Hudson twice cut Marshfield’s lead to two in the second half but never could catch up, and the Tigers closed out the game with an 11-0 run to win 47-32 and advance to the Division 1 sectionals for the ninth straight season.
Marshfield (20-3) will host Superior (17-6), a 55-41 winner over Eau Claire Memorial on Saturday, in a sectional semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday at Marshfield High School. The winner moves into a sectional final on Saturday, March 19, also at Marshfield.
“Our defense was there tonight, definitely in the second half we came out and out defense carried over to our offense,” said Marshfield guard Taylor Varsho, who had a game-high 27 points. “Tonight was not the night shooting outside, so we had to do something inside and we definitely did that.”
Marshfield led 8-6 after a choppy first quarter where it made just 3 of 15 shots from the floor, but forced six turnovers.
The Tigers never trailed during the final three quarters, but Hudson came close.
The Raiders hit three 3-pointers, two by Sarah Krier, and Alexa Belanger had a three-point play with 1:19 to go before halftime to bring Hudson within one at 25-24.
Varsho hit a 3-pointer to close the half, finishing with 16 points in the opening 16 minutes. She had 27 points in the win and broke Jamie Braun’s single-season scoring record of 465 points set in 2005-06. She now has 483 points in 23 games this season.
“She finds a way to score and does it in such a different way than she did last year,” Michaelis said. “She takes what the defense gives her and she’s just relentless. She outworks the person on defense, she squirms her way to the basket and takes a hit and goes to the free-throw line.”
The Tigers’ lead flipped between four and six throughout the third quarter until Hudson cut it to two on a pair of free throws by Kinda Witthus with 57 seconds left.
Varsho hit a shot with 38 seconds left to push Marshfield’s cushion to four, but the Tigers didn’t score for the first 2:38 of the fourth and almost so their grasp on the game slip.
Krier scored at the 6:15 mark to cut Marshfield’s lead to 36-34 and Jessie Kirkwood had a chance to tie the game for Hudson, but missed a pair of free throws with 5:32 left. The Raiders wouldn’t score again.
Eleni Seitz (12 points, 10 rebounds) scored, Varsho had a three-point play and the Tigers made 6 of 8 free throws in the final 1:12 to ice it.
“We talked nicely, quietly, going into the fourth, being up two and the last thing you can do is being all nervous and everything,” Michaelis said. “I thought they played with a lot of poise in that fourth quarter. I thought defensively, we played pretty well in the second half.
“The kids listened, they got that run. We made three stops in a row and score on our end every time. I’m really proud of the way the girls finished.”
Breaking the scoring record was just icing on the cake for Varsho, a junior, who now has 943 career points and stands just 298 away from breaking Carlin McClary’s career mark of 1240 set from 1975-78.
“It’s something for the next person to tend to and it’s great confidence on our team, especially for me,. It’s a great feeling inside,” Varsho said.
Tigers 47, Raiders 34
Hudson 6 18 8 2 – 34
Marshfield 8 20 8 11 – 47
HUDSON (34): Maddie Drewiske 2-5 0-0 4, Ashley Fall 1-2 0-0 2, Kelsey Scharfenberg 1-3 0-0 2, Sarah Krier 4-9 0-0 10, Kindra Witthus 2-6 2-2 7, Jessie Kirkwood 0-7 0-2 0, Jamie Lindstrom 0-5 0-0 0, Alexa Belanger 4-5 1-3 9. FG: 14-42. FT: 3-7. 3-pointers: 3-13 (Krier 2-5, Witthus 1-1, Kirkwood 0-5, Scharfenberg 0-1, Drewiske 0-1). Rebounds: 39 (Lindstrom 6). Turnovers: 17. Total fouls: 17. Fouled out: Witthus. Record: 8-16.
MARSHFIELD (47): Mary Wolff 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Varsho 9-26 7-12 27, Tiffany Stargardt 0-0 0-0 0, Leah Ripp 1-5 0-0 3, Sarah Wolff 0-1 0-0 0, Alyssa Brenner 1-7 2-2 5, Becky Boehning 0-0 0-0 0, Eleni Seitz 3-6 6-6 12, Brianna Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Courtney Bauer 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 14-44. FT: 15-20. 3-pointers: 4-24 (Varsho 2-12, Brenner 1-7, Ripp 1-5). Rebounds: 25 (Seitz 10). Turnovers: 6. Total fouls: 8. Fouled out: none. Record: 20-3.