By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team is starting to make starting out slow a trend. Good thing for the Tigers that they finish stong.
For the third straight Wisconsin Valley Conference game, the Tigers found themselves behind after the first quarter, but again they rallied and on Tuesday Marshfield knocked off D.C. Everest 46-29 to clinch at least a share of its third-straight Valley championship and sixth in the last eight years.
Marshfield can win the title outright with one win in its final two games – Friday at Wausau East or March 4 at Wisconsin Rapids.
“Three years I’ve been on varsity and three conference titles, it’s awesome,” Marshfield senior guard Andie Varsho said. “It sets the mood for the playoffs when that comes around.
“We had little experience with the girls on the floor, but as the season progressed, the nerves got settled down and people started stepping up. Overall, as a team, we’re very talented – everyone could score. It’s just nice to prove the people that doubted us wrong.”
The Tigers started slowly in recent games against Wausau West and Stevens Point before rallying. Tuesday’s game was more of the same as Marshfield trailed 11-4 after making just 1 of 15 shots from the field in the opening quarter.
The Tigers used their defense to get back into the game. Marshfield forced turnovers on four of the Evergreens’ first six possessions and ran off 10 straight points to start the second quarter. Taylor Varsho and Andie Varsho hit 3-pointers in the run to move ahead 14-11.
“As a team I think we’re nervous. Big games get our nerves going,” Andie Varsho said. “I think once we settle in and know what we have to do, see what defense the other team plays, I think we settle down and make our shots and play good defense.”
Megan Kroll, who led Everest with 15 points, hit back-to-back baskets to put Everest back ahead, but Leah Ripp and Alyssa Brenner hit consecutive 3-pointers for Marshfield before the half, giving the Tigers a 20-15 lead at the break.
“We definitely started slow. I didn’t feel like our intensity was there and we weren’t really ready to go,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “We can’t go long droughts without scoring. That starts, honestly, on the defensive end, whether it’s full court or half-court. We have to find ways to start getting stronger in that because if we do that too many times, it will catch you.”
Marshfield continued the run by scoring the first six points of the second half as its defensive pressure became too much for the Evergreens to handle. Everest turned the ball over four times in the first 3:30 of the third quarter and fell behind 28-17 after a rebound and basket by Brenner.
Kelsey Weigel and Taylor Varsho each scored four points in an 11-0 that bridged the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters to push Marshfield’s lead to 39-21.
Andie Varsho finished with 10 points and Taylor Varsho, Brenner and Weigel each had nine points in a balanced attack for the Tigers.
“It’s great for these kids,” Michaelis said. “That definitely was the goal going into this year, was to get that conference title. We want to finish strong with two more games left, but it definitely feels good and I’m very proud of the girls.”
Tigers 46, Evergreens 29
D.C. Everest 11 4 6 8 – 29
Marshfield 4 16 12 14 – 46
D.C. EVEREST (29): Megan Kroll 7-9 0-1 15, Paige VanGrinsven 1-1 0-3 2, Kaile Sepnafski 1-6 3-4 5, Mikaela Koch 0-0 0-0 0, Bethany Zulegar 2-6 0-0 5, Steph Kastens 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Jasurda 0-2 0-0 0, Meghan Krueger 0-0 0-0 0, Dani Berg 0-1 0-0 0, Marie Geurink 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 12-26. FT: 3-8. 3-pointers: 2-6 (Kroll 1-1, Zuleger 1-3, Sepnafski 0-1, Koch 0-1). Rebounds: 21 (Sepnafski 4, Jasruda 4). Turnovers: 18. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 10-7, 6-3 Wisconsin Valley.
MARSHFIELD (46): Becky Boehning 0-0 0-0 0, Amy Krogman 1-1 0-0 2, Taylor Varsho 3-7 2-2 9, Andie Varsho 4-8 1-3 10, Leah Ripp 1-5 0-0 3, Kelsey Weigel 4-11 1-2 9, Alyssa Brenner 3-7 2-2 9, Amelia Eckes 0-4 0-0 0, Sarah Wolff 0-0 0-0 0, Eleni Seitz 1-2 2-5 4. FG: 17-46. FT: 8-14. 3-pointers: 4-8 (Ripp 1-1, Brenner 1-1, A. Varsho 1-2, T. Varsho 1-4). Rebounds: 24 (Eckes 5). Turnovers: 3. Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 16-2, 10-0 Wisconsin Valley.
Paul Lecker can be reached by e-mail at paul@marshfieldareasports.com.
View video highlights of the Tigers’ win at allmarshfield.com
