This story is sponsored by Dental Clinic of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
WISCONSIN RAPIDS – A furious comeback by the Marshfield girls basketball team fell just short as the Tigers lost 46-43 to Oshkosh West in a WIAA Division 1 sectional final Saturday afternoon at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School.
Oshkosh West (20-6) moves on to the WIAA State Girls Basketball Tournament in Madison next week. West will play the winner of tonight’s game between De Pere and Hartland Arrowhead in a Division 1 semifinal Friday night at the Kohl Center.
Marshfield ends its season with a 20-6 record and a 10th straight regional title.
The Tigers trailed by nine points with 6 minutes to go before they started chipping away, cutting the deficit to one point on two occasions, but couldn’t pull even.
Oshkosh West made six straight free throws over the final 40.3 seconds to counter Taylor Varsho’s barrage of three 3-pointers. After two free throws by Ashley Neustifter with 3.1 seconds to go, Varsho took a pass near half court and weaved through traffic. As she was set to launch a 3-point attempt before the buzzer, a West player knocked the ball out from behind to end the game.
“It was a little bit too little too late,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “They threw caution to the wind and played like you kind of want them to. We just felt like we were in mud the whole game. For them to make a run and make them (West) uncomfortable and nervous at the end, that’s what our team is always going to do. They’re never going to go away.”
West led 33-24 with 5:56 remaining in the game as the Tigers missed their first 12 field goal attempts of the second half.
A 7-2 run brought Marshfield to within three at 34-31 with 3 minutes to go.
West was able to score inside on three straight possessions as the Tigers pressured the ball up top, but 3-pointers by Darian Molter and Taylor Varsho kept Marshfield alive and it trailed 40-37 with 1:10 left.
Varsho hit two more 3-pointers in the final 34 seconds, but the Tigers couldn’t get back to even as West made its free throws. The Wildcats were just 5 of 13 from the line before making the final six to finish off the victory.
“The fourth quarter was huge for us but we gave them too many easy looks in the paint,” Varsho said. “Our main focus was to stop them before they got too far in the lane. Our defense wasn’t there tonight, but we played our butts off and too bad it ended up short.”
Varsho scored 18 points and finishes her career as Marshfield’s all-time leading scorer with 1,373 points.
“We have a young team this year and we knew that from the get-go, but we came together in the last two weeks,” Varsho said. “It was probably the funnest time in my career. They’re a great group of girls and I am going to miss them a lot.”
Marshfield led 12-10 after one quarter and was on top for much of the second quarter before the Wildcats scored the final five points to take a 23-19 lead into the break.
The Tigers went ice cold in the third quarter, missing all 10 shots from field. Ellie Fehrenbach made four free throws and Tiffany Stargardt added one from the line, but Marshfield fell behind by nine as Neustifter poured in seven of her 11 points in the quarter.
Marshfield held West without a point in the final two minutes and the Tigers trailed 32-24 heading into the fourth.
“That’s the best defensive team we’ve played against and I think we knew that coming in,” Michaelis said. “You think one of those shots were going to go in before the middle of the fourth quarter. It was just one of those games. Give a lot of credit to Oshkosh West, they played extremely had and they are extremely disciplined.”
Using a rotation that included three freshmen and two sophomores, the Tigers made a run to the sectional final that many didn’t see coming. Despite the heartbreaking defeat, Michaelis said she was proud of how her team performed this season, especially in the playoffs.
“Our kids had a great season and I really feel like we really played all together in the last two weeks in the tournament,” Michaelis said. “These kids wanted it. That’s the hard thing about this game. The highs and really, really high and the lows are really low. You’re so close and can almost taste being in Madison.”
Wildcats 46, Tigers 43
Oshkosh West 10 13 9 14 – 46
Marshfield 12 7 5 19 – 43
OSHKOSH WEST (46): Katie Nichols 1-2 3-5 5, Kate Pawelkiewicz 1-2 0-0 2, Marina Hereford 4-6 4-4 12, Ashley Neustifter 4-11 2-2 11, Deidra Unger 6-12 1-4 13, Jaime Schmidt 0-0 1-4 1, Michelle Nieman 1-4 0-0 2. FG: 17-37. FT: 11-19. 3-pointers: 1-4 (Neustifter 1-4). Rebounds: 24 (Unger 7). Turnovers: 10. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: none. Record: 20-6.
MARSHFIELD (43): Ellie Kummer 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Varsho 6-15 1-2 18, Tiffany Stargardt 3-5 1-2 7, Darian Molter 4-8 1-1 10, Caitlin Michaelis 0-7 1-2 1, Leah Ripp 1-2 0-0 3, Courtney Bauer 0-1 0-0 0, Ellie Fehrenbach 0-2 4-4 4. FG: 14-41. FT: 8-11. 3-pointers: 7-22 (Varsho 5-10, Molter 1-4, Ripp 1-2, Michaelis 0-5, Kummer 0-1). Rebounds: 24 (Stargardt 11). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Fehrenbach. Record: 20-6.