This story is sponsored by Dental Clinic of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team is a work in progress and one doesn’t have to look farther than the third quarter of Thursday night’s nonconference game against La Crosse Central to figure that out.
The Tigers, playing without leading scorer Taylor Varsho, turned the ball over on six straight possessions early in the third quarter, then turned the tables and made their final six shots of the period to close out a 14-2 run and roll on to a 49-41 win at Marshfield High School.
Freshman Caitlin Michaelis and sophomore Darian Molter each scored 14 points and Tiffany Stargardt added 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Marshfield, which improves to 1-1.
Kerstin Gruntzel and Brittany Baldwin each scored 13 points to lead the Red Raiders (1-3).
The terrible beginning to the third quarter, followed by the game-deciding surge over the final 3½ minutes of the period is the type of uneven play that coach Heidi Michaelis said she has seen throughout practice and during the Tigers’ first two games this season.
“We’ve seen so many good things and those good things are usually followed by three bad things,” Heidi Michaelis said. “We’ve just got to find a way to be more disciplined, more solid for longer stretches of time, and I think we’re trying to find ourselves defensively. That’s always been my thing and I think right now, we’re not that great of a defensive team. That’s going to come and the kids believe in it, it’s just going to take time and take work.:
Caitlin Michaelis hit a pair of 3-pointers and another hoop, freshman Ellie Kummer added a 3-pointer and Molter made two free throws to push the Tigers to a 13-7 lead after the first quarter.
The Tigers struggled offensively in the second, going without a basket for 5:20 and fell behind 18-15 after three straight baskets by Brittany Baldwin.
However, Marshfield closed out the half with a 6-2 run. Kummer made a basket with 3 seconds left to give the Tigers a 21-19 lead despite shooting only 24 percent (6 of 24) from the field.
“I think in the first half we took some really quick shots, not bad shots, just too quick,” Heidi Michaelis said. “I said that when we take those quick shots, it hasn’t worked out well for us. For whatever reason, when you run the offense with five, six, seven passes, they’re going to go in more often. We can get the 3-pointer whenever we want, but let’s take it in the context of what we are trying to do. Sometimes we can break it down and get a layup. I’d rather take a layup than a 3-pointer. It’s just something we have to keep working on.”
The third quarter started off just as slow as the second, but Central wasn’t able to do much damage. Despite the six straight turnovers by the Tigers, Central only scored twice and the game was tied at 23-23 before Marshfield caught fire.
Molter scored seven points in the 14-2 run, Michaelis made another 3-pointer and Courtney Bauer scored just before the buzzer to give Marshfield a 37-25 lead.
Central started the fourth quarter with a 5-0 run before Stargardt scored at the 5:10 mark to give Marshfield a 39-30 lead. The Tigers led by at least six the rest of the way. Molter and Stargardt each made three of four free throws over the final 2:13 to keep the Red Raiders at bay.
As Varsho, who needs 298 points to become the school’s all-time leading scorer, recovers from knee surgery, the Tigers continue to look for offense consistency. She may return sometime this month, but in the meantime the young Marshfield squad will have to continue to find its way.
“We’ve got no proven scorers out there,” coach Michaelis said. “I said that at halftime. ‘My proven scorer is sitting there with a knee injury.’ You have five new people that are finding their way, figuring out who has to score and when they have to score and taking good shots versus bad shots.
“We’re pleased. We got a win tonight. We led for most of the second half, so it’s a matter of closing games out cleaner. When you’re playing as young and inexperienced kids as we are, it’s going to be like that. We’ve just got to keep battling and keep getting better.”
Marshfield plays at Waunakee on Friday before opening its Wisconsin Valley Conference schedule Dec. 16 at home against Stevens Point.
Tigers 49, Red Raiders 41
La Crosse Central 7 12 6 16 – 41
Marshfield 13 8 16 12 – 49
CENTRAL (41): Brooke Baldwin 0-1 0-1 0, Brittany Baldwin 5-7 3-12 13, Kathleen Pangier 0-3 0-0 0, Kerstin Gruntzel 4-9 5-5 13, Sarah Nickelatti 1-2 0-0 3, Makenzie Becker 2-4 0-0 4, Shelby Pfennig 1-2 0-0 2, Molly Wichelt 1-2 0-0 2, Ashley Athnos 0-4 0-0 0, Sabrina Aspenson 2-6 0-0 4. FG: 16-41. FT: 8-18. 3-pointers: 0-3 (Athnos 0-1, Gruntzel 0-1, Bro. Baldwin 0-1). Rebounds: 27 (Becker 8, Aspenson 5). Turnovers: 27. Fouls: 22. Fouled out: Bri. Baldwin, Pangier. Record: 1-3.
MARSHFIELD (49): Ellie Kummer 2-6 0-2 5, Tiffany Stargardt 3-6 5-6 11, Darian Molter 3-4 8-12 14, Caitlin Michaelis 5-13 1-3 14, Sara Fuller 0-1 0-0 0, Leah Ripp 0-5 0-2 0, Courtney Bauer 1-2 0-0 2, Ellie Fehrenbach 0-4 3-4 3. FG: 14-41. FT: 17-29. 3-pointers: 4-17 (Michaelis 3-10, Kummer 1-2, Ripp 0-5). Rebounds: 23 (Stargardt , Fehrenbach 5). Turnover: 20. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 1-1.