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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – After a sluggish start, Marshfield Columbus Catholic got it together and used its strong defense to whip Marion 57-23 in a WIAA Division 5 girls basketball regional quarterfinal on Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
The Dons held Marion (6-17) to 16 percent shooting (8 of 50) and forced 18 turnovers in the victory.
Columbus Catholic (13-10) moves on to a D-5 regional semifinal at Wausau Newman Catholic (19-4) on Friday. The game, which starts at 7 p.m., will be broadcast on WOSQ-FM 92.3 and wdlbwosq.com.
Columbus led 5-4 after a slow 5½ minutes to start the game before it began to turn up the heat.
Marissa Immerfall and Hailey Roehl each scored four points in a 10-0 run for the Dons, and they eventually opened up a 24-7 lead as they held Marion without a made field goal for 12 minutes.
“I keep stressing defense and ball pressure,” Columbus coach Rhonda Keding said. “It doesn’t matter who has the ball, you have to give them ball pressure. If you do good things on defense, usually good things on offense comes with it.”
Natalie Pospyhalla hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the half to put the Dons up 27-11 at the break and the dominance continued in the second half.
Columbus went on a 12-2 run over the first 5 minutes to go up 39-13 and had another 7-0 run later in the half to close out the win.
Baylie Neider had 12 points and eight rebounds, Roehl scored 10 off the bench, and Pospyhalla also had 10 points for Columbus. The Dons finished with a 52-26 rebounding advantage as Morgan Albrecht and Kendra Baierl also had eight rebounds each in the win.
Newman, which finished second in the Marawood Conference South Division, provides a tough opponent for Columbus as it looks to continue its postseason run.
“There are some weaknesses and some strengths with them (Newman),” Keding said. “They do a 1-2-2 three-quarters press. It’s not too tough, but they can do some damage with it. We just have to take care of the ball against it. They have some good outside shooters and a good inside-outside game. At this point, it’s whoever shows up has a chance to win.”
Dons 57, Mustangs 23
Marion 11 12 – 23
Columbus Catholic 27 30 – 57
MARION (23): Kendra Barrow 1-5 0-1 2, Bridget Bazile 0-5 3-4 3, Tessa Brei 0-5 0-0 0, Kali Haufe 0-2 0-0 0, Ciara Peebles 0-0 0-0 0, Abby Polzin 3-13 0-0 7, Megan Radcliffe 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Radcliffe 0-0 0-0 0, Camille Radies 3-11 0-2 6, Elizabeth Radtke 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Sawall 1-9 3-6 5, Mollie Schoen 0-0 0-0 0, Kyla Zillmer 0-0 0-1 0. FG: 8-50. FT: 6-14. 3-pointers: 1-9 (Polzin 1-7, Haufe 0-1, Radies 0-1). Rebounds: 26 (Sawall 7). Turnovers: 18. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-17.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (57): Taylor Tolppi 0-0 0-0 0, Annika Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Albrecht 1-12 1-2 3, Hailey Roehl 2-4 6-6 10, Baylie Neider 4-9 1-2 12, Maren Seefluth 1-3 1-3 3, Kendra Baierl 2-5 0-1 4, Addison Baierl 1-2 0-0 2, Makenzie Hansen 0-0 0-0 0, Katie Hall 1-1 0-0 2, Natalie Pospyhalla 4-11 0-0 10, Zoe Stratman 0-1 0-0 0, Marissa Immerfall 4-10 3-4 11. FG: 20-58. FT: 12-18. 3-pointers: 5-17 (Neider 3-6, Pospyhalla 2-5, Albrecht 0-5, A. Baierl 0-1). Rebounds: 52 (Albrecht 8, Neider 8, K. Baierl 8, Pospyhalla 8). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 13-10.