By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Sparked by a 21-6 run to start the game, a tired and weary Marshfield High School girls basketball game defeated La Crosse Central 46-33 in a nonconference game Saturday afternoon at the Marshfield High School Fieldhouse.
The win is Marshfield’s fourth straight and improves its record to 14-2.
The Tigers outscored the Red Raiders 16-4 to start the game and led 16-6 at the end of the first quarter as Taylor Varsho scored seven of her game-high 14 points in the period.
Marshfield pushed the lead to 21-6 after a three-point play by Kelsey Weigel and led 31-20 at halftime before the fatigue started to show.
The Tigers came back from a nine-point deficit to knock off Wisconsin Valley Conference rival Wausau West on Friday night, then had to make the difficult turnaround to play a 2 p.m. game on Saturday.
“My legs were just drained coming out after halftime,” Taylor Varsho said. “It was a big game last night, the fans were all into it, it was a late night then coming back early, it was tough.
“We did as much as we could to get the big ‘W’. That was one of our goals this weekend, to get two ‘Ws’.”
Central (8-7) scored the first six points of the third quarter to cut the Tigers’ lead to 31-26, but eventually Marshfield found its offensive groove.
A 9-0 run sparked by senior point guard Andie Varsho’s seven points put Marshfield back in control and the Tigers led by at least nine the rest of the way.
“We found a way to win a game when things were not going well,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “We need to eliminate those stretches on the offensive end where we stop moving, stop playing. We need to make those shorter.
“We talked about it at halftime that when you have those stretches you have to take more pride in our defense. You can never be OK to get scored on from a team standpoint or an individual standpoint. When you start being OK with being scored on, we are a different team.”
The Tigers have a week to recuperate before playing at Stevens Point on Friday.
Tigers 46, Red Raiders 33
Central 6 14 8 5 – 33
Marshfield 16 15 9 6 – 46
CENTRAL (33): Jourdan Stacey 3-4 0-0 6, Kerstin Gruntzel 3-5 2-2 9, Allyson Hennessy 3-5 0-0 6, Alex Klos 0-2 4-4 4, Lexi Ruda 0-1 0-0 0, Makenzie Becker 0-1 0-0 0, Tabby Roth 2-7 0-0 4, Anna Boteva 0-4 0-0 0, Taylor Rowe 1-5 0-0 2, Sabrina Aspenson 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 12-39. FT: 8-8. 3-pointers: 1-6 (Gruntzel 1-3, rowe 0-1, Stacey 0-1, Boteva 0-1). Rebounds: 27 (Gruntzel 5). Total fouls: 12. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: 18. Record: 8-7.
MARSHFIELD (46): Becky Boehning 0-0 0-1 0, Amy Krogman 0-0 1-2 1, Taylor Varsho 6-23 0-0 14, Andie Varsho 4-6 1-2 11, Leah Ripp 1-4 0-0 3, Kelsey Weigel 3-8 2-3 8, Alyssa Brenner 1-4 1-2 3, Amelia Eckes 2-2 0-0 4, Sarah Wolff 0-0 0-0 0, Eleni Seitz 1-2 0-1 2. FG: 17-48. FT: 5-11. 3-pointers: 3-11 (T. Varsho 2-7, Ripp 1-2, Brenner 0-2). Rebounds: 31 (Seitz 8, T. Varsho 7). Total fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Turnovers: 9. Record: 14-2.
Paul Lecker can be reached by e-mail at paul@marshfieldareasports.com.
