This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team celebrated its Wisconsin Valley Conference championship on Senior Night at The Boson Company Fieldhouse with a resounding 68-36 victory over Wausau East on Thursday.
The Tigers wrapped up a perfect WVC season with a 12-0 record and finish their regular-season schedule with a 20-2 mark.
Marshfield’s four seniors – McKayla Scheuer, Dani Bender, Ana Jensen and Sara Dasler – were honored before the game and all four were in the starting lineup, which was something new for Bender, Jensen and Dasler, who are all reserve guards.
“It was really nice to have all the seniors start and it was nice playing with them,” Scheuer said. “They work just as hard as the rest of us. They come to practice, work hard, they’re ready to work.”
Junior Ema Fehrenbach, the other player in the starting lineup, led the Tigers with 19 points, but the entire team contributed in the victory.
Jensen had four assists in the first half, Scheuer chipped in 13 points with three 3-pointers, and Bender and Dasler tied for the team-high in rebounds with seven a piece.
Freshman Jenna Jakobi finished with 13 points and sophomore Hannah Meverden added 10 points and five rebounds for the Tigers.
“The seniors came out and took great pride in being able to play hard,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “They played well, took care of the ball and played good defense. It was just a special night for them and for this team for what we’ve accomplished this year. It was a good way to end this first season and now come back and get after it next week as we prepare for the tournament.”
Marshfield ran out to a 20-2 lead to start the game and leave little doubt as to why it won the Valley title, the program’s first since 2011.
Fehrenbach had 10 points in the opening run, three coming off assists from Jensen. Scheuer also had eight points in the streak.
Marshfield led 34-13 at halftime and used a 17-7 advantage to start the second half to build a 31-point lead and all but finish off the win.
The Tigers are the No. 1 seed in their Division 1 Sectional 1 bracket and open the WIAA playoffs at home against Wisconsin Rapids next Friday, Feb. 26. Marshfield would also host a regional final on Feb. 27 with a victory against the 3-19 Raiders.
“We’re going to be pushed, we know that going in,” Scheuer said. “We have to get more fluent on offense and keep our defense going and continue to get better with that, too.”
Michaelis said the Tigers will need to continue to work hard during the next week in preparation for the playoffs.
“We just want to stay sharp, play defense, have no let-downs,” Michaelis said. “Everything we have done, while nice, doesn’t matter anymore. We’ll turn the heat up on them a little bit. We have to take care of the ball, which is something that we’ve been plagued by at different points in the season.”
Tigers 68, Lumberjacks 36
Wausau East 13 23 – 36
Marshfield 34 34 – 68
WAUSAU EAST (36): Alex McDonald 0-1 0-0 0, Leah Blaskowski 2-7 0-2 6, Lucy Xiong 0-2 0-0 0, Cierra Hess 0-3 0-0 0, Brenna Urmanski 2-8 0-0 4, Jordan Murphy 5-11 0-0 11, Rachel Kromrei 0-2 0-0 0, Lauren Watters 3-7 4-6 10, Tiffani Schwede 0-2 0-0 0, Paulina Twerberg 2-7 0-0 5. FG: 14-50. FT: 4-8. 3-pointers: 4-19 (Blaskowski 2-5, Murphy 1-3, Twerberg 1-3, Watters 0-1, Kromrei 0-1, Urmanski 0-3, Hess 0-3). Rebounds: 26 (Twerberg 6). Turnovers: 19. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 2-20, 0-12 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (68): McKayla Scheuer 5-8 0-0 13, Dani Bender 2-4 0-2 4, Ana Jensen 1-8 0-0 2, Sara Dasler 0-6 0-0 0, Jenna Jakobi 5-9 3-4 13, Corianne Johnson 1-4 3-4 5, Maddie Nikolai 1-4 0-0 2, Ema Fehrenbach 7-10 5-6 19, Hannah Meverden 4-7 2-2 10. FG: 26-60. FT: 13-18. 3-pointers: 3-8 (Scheuer 3-5, Jensen 0-1, Dasler 0-2). Rebounds: 40 (Dasler 7, Bender 7). Turnovers: 11. Fouls: 6. Fouled out: none. Record: 20-2, 12-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference.