This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – First place was on the line for both the girls and the boys in the Wisconsin Valley Conference standings on Friday night at Marshfield High School as the host Tigers took on Stevens Point in a doubleheader.
Both of the Marshfield teams came ready to play and exited the Boson Company Fieldhouse in the lead in the conference.
The Marshfield girls led for all but four minutes in posting a 50-45 victory and the boys followed up with a dominating 57-39 win as they never trailed.
Back on Dec. 10, Stevens Point whipped the Marshfield girls 78-42 and the Tigers were left reeling with their third-straight loss to start the season.
Since, Marshfield is 8-2 and with Friday’s win, it pulls even with Stevens Point for the lead in the Wisconsin Valley Conference at 6-1.
“It was our defense,” Marshfield girls coach Taylor Varsho said. “To keep them to 45 points, it shows our defense was on tonight. The girls are buying into the program, they’re buying into the culture change, and they’re buying into what our entire coaching staff is preaching. It’s great to have a group of girls that support each other.”
Maddie Michaelis hit two early 3-pointers and had a fast-break layup to help push the Tigers to a 14-7 lead in the opening seven minutes.
Stevens Point didn’t have much offense going until late in the half. Leah Earnest scored six points in a 9-0 run over the final two minutes to give the Panthers a 23-22 lead at the break.
The lead changed hands five times until Michaelis hit a pair of 3-pointers and Loryn Jakobi had a layup off a nice pass inside from Kaydee Johnson, and the Tigers went up 41-35.
Danielle Minsaas drilled a 3-pointer from the top of the key before Stevens Point responded with a 5-0 run to get to within four.
Point got as close as three after an Earnest basket with 26 seconds left, but Minsaas made a pair of free throws and the Tigers closed out the five-point win.
Michaelis finished with 19 points on the strength of five 3-pointers, Minsaas added 13 points and Johnson had 10 for Marshfield.
Earnest led Point with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
“The kids come to practice every day and grind it out,” Varsho said. “It goes back to our senior leadership. Kaydee Johnson, with the ball in her hands, I feel so confident with her going to the line. Paige Preston, Desirae Weisenberger as well. It goes to back to just wanting it more and their toughness really showed.”
There wasn’t much drama in the boys game. After Stevens Point scored the first five points, Marshfield went on a 20-2 run to effectively suck the air out of the Panthers.
Marshfield hit four 3-pointers in the run, two by Anthony Posteluk, and the Tigers led by double digits for the final 28 minutes of the game.
“It’s always a big win any time you play, but SPASH, with their tradition, it’s big,” Marshfield boys coach Scott Scheuer said. “I didn’t like the way we handled their pressure down the stretch, but we did enough. Maybe guys are just too tired and I have to do a better job to find some time for guys to get a rest.”
Sam Hinson scored the Tigers’ final seven points of the half as they took a 30-14 lead into the intermission.
The Tigers made sure Stevens Point wouldn’t make a run as they started out the second half with a 13-5 advantage fueled by 3-pointers from Addison Hill and Posteluk, and a three-point play from Kyle Tremelling. Marshfield led 43-19 with 9:19 to go and Point never got closer than 17.
Marshfield moves into sole possession for first place in the Valley at 5-1 and improves to 8-5 overall. Stevens Point is now 8-6 and falls into a second-place tie with D.C. Everest and Merrill at 4-2.
“I’m really, really happy with how my guys have bought in to playing defense,” Scheuer said. “The way we play is hard. We don’t practice like that for more than a couple of minutes because we can’t. I don’t have enough guys to do that.”
Hill had 12 points, Posteluk 11 and Tremelling 10 for the Tigers. No Stevens Point player reached double figures, with Evan Vollendorf leading the Panthers with nine.
The Marshfield girls and boys will compete at Wisconsin Rapids on Tuesday for another WVC doubleheader. The boys start at 6 p.m. with the girls to follow. Both games will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com, and will be live-streamed at zaleskisports.com/live-sports.
Girls
Tigers 50, Panthers 45
Stevens Point 23 22 – 45
Marshfield 22 28 – 50
STEVENS POINT (45): Shaye Solinsky 0-1 1-2 1, Faith Weddle 0-1 0-0 0, Emma Raikowski 1-1 0-0 3, Avery Lilly 0-1 0-0 0, Kylie Klismith 1-1 0-0 2, Tahlia Moe 2-3 0-1 5, Zoe Fink 1-8 0-0 3, Emma Jossie 3-9 2-5 8, Leah Earnest 8-20 7-8 23. FG: 16-45. FT: 10-16. 3-pointers: 3-17 (Raikowski 1-1, Moe 1-2, Fink 1-6, Lilly 0-1, Weddle 0-1, Jossie 0-2, Earnest 0-4). Rebounds: 31 (Earnest 11). Turnovers: 20. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-5, 6-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (50): Kaydee Johnson 2-10 6-6 10, Maddie Michaelis 7-14 0-4 19, Danielle Minsaas 4-10 4-6 13, Desirae Weisenberger 0-7 2-2 2, Paige Preston 2-5 0-0 4, Quincy Lang 0-1 0-0 0, Loryn Jakobi 1-3 0-0 2. FG: 16-50. FT: 12-18. 3-pointers: 6-17 (Michaelis 5-10, Minsaas 1-3, Weisenberger 0-1, Johnson 0-3). Rebounds: 27 (Michaelis 8, Johnson 8). Turnovers: 13. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-5, 6-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
—
Boys
Tigers 57, Panthers 39
Stevens Point 14 25 – 39
Marshfield 30 27 – 57
STEVENS POINT (39): Brenden Klish 1-1 1-2 3, James Jacobs 1-4 2-2 4, Austin Beyer 3-4 0-0 6, Kenny Schultz 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Tuszka 0-0 0-0 0, Gavin Hyer 2-2 0-0 4, Christian Zarazua 2-3 0-0 4, Evan Vollendorf 3-9 1-2 9, Owen Jordan 0-2 0-0 0, Bryce Pelky 1-3 0-0 2, Damian Cejka 0-0 0-0 0, Nate Steveler 1-1 4-4 7. FG: 14-29. FT: 8-10. 3-pointers: 3-11 (Vollendorf 2-5, Streveler 1-1, Jacobs 0-1, Beyer 0-1, Zarazua 0-1, Jordan 0-2). Rebounds: 20 (Jacobs 5). Turnovers: 26. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-6, 4-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (57): Addison Hill 4-12 1-3 12, Sam Hinson 3-7 2-2 9, Bennett Koehn 1-1 0-0 3, Anthony Posteluk 4-8 0-0 11, Joey Goettl 4-12 0-1 9, Sam Roherty 1-1 0-0 3, Kyle Tremelling 4-5 2-3 10, Wyatt LeMoine 0-1 0-0 0, Matt Donovan 0-0 0-2 0, Jack Nordbeck 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 21-47. FT: 5-11. 3-pointers: 10-28 (Posteluk 3-6, Hill 3-9, Koehn 1-1, Roherty 1-1, Hinson 1-5, Goettl 1-6). Rebounds: 21 (Goettl 5, Tremelling 5). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Posteluk. Record: 8-5, 5-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.