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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Marshfield separated itself from Auburndale with a big run in the second quarter and posted a 52-39 victory in a semifinal of the Marshfield Tiger Girls Basketball Holiday Tournament on Friday night at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
The Tigers (3-4) will play Wausau Newman Catholic (6-0) in the championship game of the tournament at 5:30 p.m. Saturday. The game will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and online at wdlbwosq.com. Newman defeated La Crosse Logan 55-46 in the other semifinal on Friday.
Auburndale (2-4) will play Logan (2-4) in the consolation game at 3:45 p.m.
Auburndale was 7 of 15 from the field in the first quarter, scoring eight points off offensive rebounds, and led 14-7.
Caitlin Michaelis hit a 3-pointer and Emma Fehrenbach made a free throw for Marshfield to make 14-11 at the end of the first quarter, and sparked a 15-0 run that changed the game.
The Tigers forced six turnovers and seven straight missed shots as they gained control.
Ellie Kummer hit a 3-pointer on Marshfield’s first possession of the second quarter and Michaelis added six more points as the Tigers built a 22-14 lead.
“If you’re going to play defense, you have to play defense, if you are just going to let them do what they want to do, you’re never going to do very good,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “I thought it was a matter of playing harder on the defensive end. I thought we had good looks and we took care of the ball.”
A rebound and basket by Auburndale’s Jeanette Peplinski just before the buzzer made It 26-18 at halftime and the Apaches had to regroup.
Center Shannon Yahnke made four baskets in the second quarter and Auburndale was able to crawl back to within six at 38-32 with 1:11 to go in the third.
“Our offense was working so well in the beginning and then we scored four points in the second quarter and you can’t come back from something like that,” Auburndale coach Scott Meidl said. “We weren’t talking like we needed to, we weren’t getting the ball inside, we weren’t working as a team. We were just throwing up shots when we were open and when you’re playing a team like Marshfield that’s going to capitalize on those, you’re going to find yourself in a hole.”
The Tigers scored the next six points and made 8 of 9 free throws in the fourth quarter to keep Auburndale at bay. The Apaches got no closer than seven points of the lead and didn’t score over the final 4 minutes. Kummer made all six of her free-throw attempts in the fourth and finished with a game-high 17 points.
“We settled down a little bit and realized they were doubling (the ball) and got the ball out quickly, and we picked up our intensity a little bit,” Meidl said. “I told the girls that if we had the intensity the whole game, we wouldn’t have to dig ourselves of holes like that.”
Marshfield’s perimeter defense forced most of the Apaches’ 16 turnovers and the Tigers will need that defensive pressure again on Saturday when it faces undefeated Newman.
“We have to continue to get better with rebounding because we got beat up on that,” Heidi Michaelis said. “I don’t think that a team should get as many second and third shots as they did. Finding a way to rebound is just a matter of getting after it.
“There were some good things. They finished the game really well, made some free throws, took care of the ball for a long stretch of time. We have to do those things to finish out games.”
Tigers 52, Apaches 39
Auburndale 14 4 14 7 – 39
Marshfield 11 15 14 12 – 52
AUBURNDALE (39): Kendra Kundinger 2-5 0-1 6, Stafani Karl 2-5 0-0 4, Brianna Meyer 1-3 0-1 2, Allison Linzmeier 1-4 1-2 3, Cheyenne Karl 1-10 0-0 2, Jeanette Peplinski 1-1 0-2 2, Shannon Yahnke 6-6 4-9 16, Taylor Gotz 1-6 0-0 2, Paiton Richardson 1-2 0-0 2. FG: 16-42. FT: 5-15. 3-pointers: 2-9 (Kundinger 2-4, S. Karl 0-1, Linzmeier 0-1, C. Karl 0-3). Rebounds: 30 (Yahnke 7). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: none. Record: 2-4.
MARSHFIELD (52): McKayla Scheuer 2-3 0-1 5, Caitlin Michaelis 7-13 0-0 15, Natalie Zuelke 0-2 0-0 0, Lauren Gilbertson 0-0 0-0 0, Martha Kupfer 0-0 2-2 2, Ellie Kummer 4-11 7-8 17, Emma Fehrenbach 1-2 1-2 3, Ellie Fehrenbach 3-11 2-2 8, Kailey Hubler 1-4 0-0 2. FG: 18-54. FT: 12-15. 3-pointers: 4-13 (Kummer 2-6, Scheuer 1-2, Michaelis 1-5). Rebounds: 21 (El. Fehrenbach 6). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 3-4.