This story is sponsored by: The University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – Wausau Newman Catholic’s relentless full-court pressure was a lot for Marshfield to handle, but in the end the Tigers did just enough and survived to win the Marshfield Tiger Holiday Tournament.
The Tigers came back from a seven-point halftime deficit to force overtime, then scored the game’s final seven points to defeat Newman Catholic 57-51 in a nonconference girls basketball game Saturday night at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield improves to 4-4 after its third-straight win, and knocks Newman from the ranks of the unbeaten as it falls to 6-1.
Junior center Ellie Fehrenbach came up big for Marshfield, scoring 20 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and helping out with ball-handling duties to help break the Cardinals’ press.
“It’s difficult to do that (ball-handling) sometimes, but I know they expect me to try harder and try to be more versatile,” Fehrenbach said. “So, I try my best and I guess it worked.”
Fehrenbach scored six points in the early going, helping the Tigers get out to a 8-2 lead. Marshfield led 12-6 after the first quarter before Newman used its defense to spark its offense.
Marshfield turned the ball over three times and missed its first five shot attempts of the second quarter as the Cardinals came back to take a 15-12 lead.
After a basket by Natalie Zuelke, who finished with 11 points and 12 rebounds for Marshfield, made it 17-16, Newman finished the first half on a 8-2 run. Chloe Chapman banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to put the Cardinals up 25-18 at the break.
Marshfield started the second half with seven quick points to tie the game on an Ellie Kummer 3-pointer. Newman quickly got the lead back on a three-point play by Chapman, who finished with a team-high 19 points, and held the lead for the next 8 minutes.
Marshfield started the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run and a basket by Zuelke and a layup by Caitlin Michaelis put the Tigers back on top, 38-37, with 4:40 to go in regulation.
The lead changed hands four times during the next 3 minutes. Another 3-pointer by Kummer put Marshfield up 48-46 with 1:48 left, however the Tigers didn’t score the rest of the way.
Two free throws by Anna McCarty with 15.9 seconds left tied the game for the Cardinals and sent it to overtime.
Newman led 51-50 after a basket by Lauren Fech with 1:17 remaining in the overtime but didn’t score again.
Fehrenbach made a basket to give the lead back to Marshfield and the Tigers made 5 of 6 free throws over the final 38.5 seconds to finish off the win.
“I think that’s the first time all season that I saw them, backs against the wall, and they didn’t back away from it,” Heidi Michaelis said. “They dug deeper. Coming out of halftime down seven, we got it back to even pretty quick. I’m proud of the kids. We needed a win like this that we had to gut out and find a way to win a close game.”
Marshfield returned to action Jan. 3 at Chippewa Falls.
Notes: The all-tournament team consisted of Ellie Fehrenbach and Ellie Kummer of Marshfield, Madison Tubbs of Newman, Rachel Rank of La Crosse Logan and Stefani Karl of Auburndale.
Tigers 57, Cardinals 51
Wausau Newman 6 19 10 13 3 – 51
Marshfield 12 6 13 17 9 – 57
WAUSAU NEWMAN (51): Lauren Fech 4-8 1-1 9, Chloe Chapman 8-16 2-3 19, Lauren LaPree 2-3 0-1 4, Abigail Connolly 2-11 2-4 7, Anna McCarty 1-3 2-4 4, Madison Tubbs 2-6 4-6 8, Laura Beilke 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 19-48. FT: 11-19. 3-pointers: 2-8 (Chapman 1-2, Connolly 1-4, Tubbs 0-1, Fech 0-1). Rebounds: 23 (Tubbs 8, Chapman 7). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Fech, McCarty. Record: 6-1.
MARSHFIELD (57): McKayla Scheuer 0-3 0-0 0, Caitlin Michaelis 2-9 4-6 8, Natalie Zuelke 4-5 3-7 11, Lauren Gilbertson 0-1 0-0 0, Martha Kupfer 0-1 0-0 0, Ellie Kummer 3-15 2-2 10, Emma Fehrenbach 3-5 2-2 8, Ellie Fehrenbach 9-15 2-3 20. FG: 21-54. FT: 13-20. 3-pointers: 2-12 (Kummer 2-6, Michaelis 0-4, Scheuer 0-2). Rebounds: 39 (Zuelke 12, El. Fehrenbach 10). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: Scheuer. Record: 4-4.