This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team hit the floor for the first time this season on Tuesday night and looked ready to go.
The Tigers started the game on a 15-2 run and never looked back, rolling to a 67-50 win over Eau Claire North in a nonconference battle at the Fredrick Construction Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
Raella Schueller scored the first six points and Ashley Grancorvitz the next nine in the opening run, and the hot start was enough to propel Marshfield to the victory as it led by double digits the rest of the way.
“I thought the start was great,” Marshfield coach Taylor Varsho said. “We have a lot of new faces. We have four returning starters, but I thought the underclassmen did well tonight. I thought the first half was a little bit cleaner than the second half, now we have to put two halves together.
“Defense is going to set the tone and I thought it did in the first half. Overall, we have a 16-person roster, and everybody did their role tonight, and that’s what is going to win us a lot of games.”
Marshfield pushed its lead to 33-10 after a layup by McKenzie Holm and went ahead by as much as 26 by halftime as Gracie Ridgway nailed a 3-pointer just before the buzzer to up the Tigers’ lead to 45-19 at intermission.
Eau Claire North never made much of a push as the Tigers glided to victory the rest of the way.
Marshfield made13 of 18 free throws in the second half, including six straight from Hailey Klumb, and led by as much as 29 at 60-31.
A 14-2 run during a 5½-minute stretch late by the Huskies made it finish up closer than the game really was.
Grancorvitz finished with a game-high 21 points on 7-for-11 shooting and added nine rebounds for the Tigers. Schuller added 11 and Gracie Ridgway had seven as well in the win.
“We’re long, we’re athletic and it goes to our offseason training, the summer, and the amount of time we put to get to today,” Varsho said. “They were committed over the summer. I like the competitiveness, even in practice. Every day we’re competing for spots. It’s great to be able to put in the sixth, seventh, eighth player, and they don’t care. It’s that mentality of ‘I’m going to do what my role is, and hopefully the end result shows on the scoreboard.”
Elli O’Keefe led Eau Claire North with 16 points as the Huskies shot just 29 percent (16-for-55) in the game.
Marshfield will be back in action next Tuesday, Nov. 21, when it hosts Neenah for another nonconference game at 7:15 p.m.
Tigers 67, Huskies 50
Eau Claire North 19 31 – 50
Marshfield 45 22 – 67
EAU CLAIRE NORTH (50): Elli O’Keefe 6-18 4-6 16, Jayden Smith 3-5 0-0 8, Ava O’Keefe 0-5 0-0 0, Hope Bushendorf 1-6 2-2 4, Novalynn Sands-Hannah 1-2 1-1 3, Cortarra Smith 0-5 2-2 2, Ellie Jacobs 0-2 2-3 2, Adelynn Shepler 4-7 2-4 11, Megan Standiford 0-0 1-2 1, Hailey Lavory 1-5 1-4 3. FG: 16-55. FT: 15-24. 3-pointers: 3-19 (Smith 2-3, Shepler 1-2, Lavoy 0-1, Jacobs 0-1, Bushendorf 0-1, Smith 0-4, E. O’Keefe 0-7). Rebounds: 29 (Bushendorf 9). Turnovers: 16. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 0-1.
MARSHFIELD (67): McKenzie Holm 2-4 0-0 4, Delaney Varsho 0-0 0-0 0, Gracie Ridgway 2-3 2-2 7, Zaida Kolbeck 1-2 2-4 5, Kaylie Charron 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Kanitz 1-1 2-2 4, Hailey Klumb 0-3 6-6 6, Emma DeLany 1-1 0-0 2, Ashley Grancorvitz 7-11 4-5 21, Raella Schueller 4-7 3-4 11, Ayana Bousum 2-10 0-0 5, Emma Ridgway 1-6 0-0 2. FG: 21-48. FT: 19-23. 3-pointers: 6-17 (Grancorvitz 3-7, Kolbeck 1-2, G. Ridgway 1-2, Bousum 1-5, Holm 0-1). Rebounds: 37 (Grancorvitz 9). Turnovers: 22. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: none. Record: 1-0.