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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team overcame one big deficit, but couldn’t overcome another and dropped its Wisconsin Valley Conference and home opener to Wausau West 47-42 on Friday night at Marshfield High School.
Wausau West pulled out to a quick 10-0 lead before Marshfield fought back to within a point by halftime.
The Tigers led 34-30 midway through the third quarter, but West scored the final seven points of the period and had a 10-0 run overall to pull ahead late. This time, it proved to be enough. Marshfield made just 2 of 12 shots from the field and missed three of five free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
“We should a lot of poise in that first half, getting down by 10 but rallying and getting it back to one point at halftime,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “I think at the end we lost our heads and didn’t come up with a basket, turned it over and just lost our heads in a lot of ways.”
Sophomore guard Caitlin Michaelis led the first comeback for the Tigers (2-1, 0-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference), making three 3-pointers in the first half. Her third came just before the buzzer to end the first half and closed an 11-4 run over the final 4:23 to cut West’s lead to 23-22 at halftime.
That momentum carried over the first part of the third quarter. Ellie Fehrenbach scored twice inside and Michaelis hit another 3-pointer to give the Tigers a 34-30 lead with 4:18 left in the period.
From there, Marshfield struggled. The Tigers made just three of their final 17 shot attempts over the final 12 minutes and turned the ball over five times. Marshfield ended up with 16 turnovers, one game after posting 30 in a win at La Crosse Central.
“I felt, sometimes, it was like a hot potato out there,” Heidi Michaelis said. “Instead of just taking our time – we have the ball, we’re in control, we know what we want to do with it. We can’t feel that pressure to do something quickly. I think that’s what frustrating as a coach – these kids can take care of the ball, right now they are feeling that pressure to do something right off the bat. We just have to settle down and take care of it, and if we do, we’ll be alright.”
West closed the third quarter on a 10-2 run, including scoring the final seven points. Anna Brown, who led the Warriors (5-0, 2-0 WVC) with 16 points and nine rebounds, had eight points in run to end the quarter and helped West take a 40-36 lead.
West completed a 10-0 run to take a 43-36 with 4:21 to go.
The Tigers got to within three, but missed two free throws and four of their final five shots from the field over the final 2:27 and couldn’t get any closer.
Michaelis scored 14 points and Ellie Kummer and Fehrenbach each had seven for the Tigers. Fehrenbach added six rebounds and Tiffany Stargardt had a team-high seven boards.
Marshfield plays a nonconference game at De Pere on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Warriors 47, Tigers 42
Wausau West 14 9 17 7 – 47
Marshfield 9 13 14 6 – 42
WAUSAU WEST (47): Kierra Kohlbeck 2-5 2-3 7, Ravyn Heckendorf 0-1 0-0 0, Anna Brown 7-9 2-4 16, Jasmin Samz 2-7 4-4 8, Katy Cihlar 1-1 3-6 5, Caity Coleman 3-11 2-2 11, Ellie Hrdina 0-4 0-0 0. FG: 15-38. FT: 13-19. 3-pointers: 4-11 (Coleman 3-6, Kohlbeck 1-2, Samz 0-3). Rebounds: 28 (Brown 9). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Hrdina. Record: 5-0, 2-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (42): Tiffany Stargardt 3-6 0-0 6, Natalie Zuelke 0-1 2-2 2, Caitlin Michaelis 4-12 2-4 14, Makayla Zimmermann 2-3 0-0 4, Ellie Kummer 3-12 1-3 7, Kailey Hubler 1-1 0-0 2, Ellie Fehrenbach 3-8 1-2 7. FG: 16-43. FT: 6-11. 3-pointers: 4-13 (Michaelis 4-9, Kummer 0-3, Fehrenbach 0-1). Rebounds: 25 (Stargardt 7, Fehrenbach 6). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 2-1, 0-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.