This story is sponsored by: Trudeau Construction and The Tile Guys
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
Video highlights of game available at allmarshfield.com.
MARSHFIELD – With leading scorer Taylor Varsho battling an injury and in foul trouble throughout the game, someone else had to step up for the Marshfield girls basketball team.
Eleni Seitz scored 12 of her game-high 13 points in the first half and Leah Ripp had eight of her 11 points in the second half to lead Marshfield to a 51-40 win over D.C. Everest in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game Friday night at the Marshfield High School Fieldhouse.
Varsho was saddled with her second foul midway through the first quarter and the rest of the Marshfield team had to find a way to score the ball without its top offensive performer.
“I think there was one or two possessions where they were a little unsettled (after Varsho went out), but they settled in and built that lead back up for us going into halftime,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said.
Seitz scored four points and Tiffany Stargardt added a basket in the final 1:19 of the first quarter to push the Tigers (5-2, 2-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference) to an 11-7 advantage, a lead they would never relinquish.
Seitz had eight points of the Tigers’ 12 points in the second quarter as Marshfield built a 23-17 lead by halftime.
“(Seitz) did a good job being a big presence in there and she also ran down the ball and got some good offensive boards for us to get us some second and third looks,” Michaelis said.
Varsho, who is averaging more than 20 points a game, found her groove in the third quarter, scoring the first nine points for Marshfield as it went up 32-22 following a pair of free throws by the junior guard.
Those were her only points of the game and Marshfield was able to hold on with tenacious defense and by making just enough free throws, although it wasn’t pretty.
The Tigers made just 9 of 21 shots from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, but Everest never got closer than seven points of the lead as it missed eight of its 13 free-throw attempts and had a stretch of 10 straight misses from the floor.
“I just had the urge to shoot and I just wanted to show people what I’ve got,” Seitz said of her big offensive performance. “My teammates helped me greatly. I couldn’t do it without them. We do it as a team, that’s how we make our points, that’s how we succeed.”
Marshfield hosts Rhinelander in a nonconference game on Tuesday.
Tigers 51, Evergreens 40
D.C. Everest 7 10 11 12 – 40
Marshfield 11 12 14 14 – 51
D.C. EVEREST (40): Megan Kroll 1-5 5-10 7, Paige VanGrinsven 1-1 2-4 4, Paige Day 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Cooper 4-6 1-4 9, Mikaela Koch 2-7 3-4 9, Lauren Anklam 1-7 2-2 5, Hannah Johnson 2-7 0-0 4, Stephanie Kastens 0-3 0-0 0, Kristen Churkey 1-4 0-2 2. FG: 12-40. FT: 13-26. 3-pointers: 3-15 (Koch 2-7, Anklam 1-4, Johnson 0-3, Cooper 0-1). Rebounds: 21 (VanGrinsven 5). Turnovers: 13. Total fouls: 26. Fouled out: Kroll, Kastens. Record: 3-5, 1-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (51): Taylor Varsho 3-5 2-4 9, Tiffany Stargardt 1-3 4-6 6, Leah Ripp 4-10 1-2 11, Sarah Wolff 1-4 1-6 3, Alyssa Brenner 1-4 5-8 7, Becky Boehning 0-0 0-0 0, Eleni Seitz 6-8 1-2 13, Brianna Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Courtney Bauer 0-1 2-3 2. FG: 16-35. FT: 16-31. 3-pointers: 3-8 (Ripp 2-2, Varsho 1-3, Wolff 0-2, Brenner 0-1). Rebounds: 24 (Seitz 7). Turnovers: 13. Total fouls: 20. Fouled out: Varsho, Seitz. Record: 5-2, 2-0 WVC.