This story is sponsored by Forward Financial Bank
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Auburndale gave Marshfield all it could handle in the opening round of the 4th Annual Marshfield Tiger Girls Basketball Tournament on Thursday, but in the end the Tigers did just enough to pull out a 57-51 win on Thursday night at Marshfield High School.
There were three ties and seven lead changes in the second half before Marshfield scored 10 of the final 13 points in the game to sneak away with the six-point win.
Caitlin Michaelis scored 16 points, Ellie Kummer added 14, making three 3-pointers, and Ellie Fehrenbach had 13 points and seven rebounds for Marshfield (3-3).
Shannon Yahnke came off the bench to score 17 points and grab 12 rebounds for Auburndale (4-3).
Auburndale will play Oshkosh West (5-5) in the consolation game at 3:45 p.m. on Friday, with Marshfield playing Wausau Newman Catholic (6-1) in the championship game at 5:30 p.m. Newman edged Oshkosh West 58-55 in the opening game Thursday.
Marshfield jumped out to a 17-6 lead behind two 3-pointers by Kummer and another by Michaelis.
Auburndale chipped away and Yahnke scored four points during a 6-0 run to end the first half as the Apaches cut Marshfield’s lead to 26-24 at halftime.
Auburndale grabbed its first lead early in the third quarter and the lead went back and forth the rest of the game.
Marshfield scored the final seven points of the third to take a 42-37 lead, but Auburndale again responded, eventually taking a 48-47 lead on a basket by Becky Willfahrt with 2:57 left in the game.
Natalie Zuelke and Fehrenbach scored to put the Tigers back on top. Two free throws by Willfahrt and another by Nicole Nikolay cut Marshfield’s lead to 52-51 with 44.8 seconds left, but Auburndale wouldn’t score again.
The Tigers scored the final five points and forced two turnovers in the final 38 seconds to clinch the win.
“Offensively, we played well,” Auburndale coach Liz Nagel said. “We had a few crucial mistakes near the end of the game, so hopefully, we’ll learn from it and it will help us down the road.
“Defensively, we had a few lapses and had a hard time boxing out. Overall, I am very proud of what they did tonight.”
Tigers 57, Apaches 51
Auburndale 10 14 13 14 – 51
Marshfield 17 9 16 15 – 57
AUBURNDALE (51): Kendra Kundinger 0-2 0-0 0, Stafani Karl 0-2 0-0 0, Brianna Meyer 1-3 0-0 2, Mikayla Jankowski 2-5 0-0 5, Becky Willfahrt 1-5 2-2 4, Nicole Nikolay 3-10 5-6 11, Shannon Yahnke 8-14 1-5 17, Emma Steines 3-8 0-0 8, Kayla Gotz 2-2 0-0 4. FG: 20-51. FT: 8-13. 3-pointers: 3-13 (Steines 2-4, Jankowski 1-2, Nikolay 0-2, Willfahrt 0-2, Meyer 0-1, Karl 0-1, Kundinger 0-1). Rebounds: 26 (Yahnke 12). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-3.
MARSHFIELD (57): Darian Molter 1-2 3-4 5, Natalie Zuelke 4-5 0-0 8, Caitlin Michaelis 4-15 6-8 15, Emily Goeppinger 0-1 0-0 0, Makayla Zimmermann 0-0 0-0 0, Ellie Kummer 5-9 1-2 14, Kailey Hubler 0-2 1-2 1, Ellie Fehrenbach 4-11 5-7 13. FG: 18-45. FT: 16-23. 3-pointers: 5-17 (Kummer 3-7, Michaelis 2-10). Rebounds: 30 (Fehrenbach 7, Zuelke 7). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 3-3.