This story is sponsored by: The University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team found itself in another defensive battle, but unlike last week’s game against Bay Port, the Tigers were able to find a way to pull it out.
Despite shooting 25 percent (16 of 64) from the field, Marshfield used gritty defense and just enough made free throws to down undefeated Hudson 45-42 on Tuesday night as part of the 7th Annual Marshfield Tiger Girls Basketball Invitational.
Marshfield made four of five free throws over the final 1:16 in the extra period to pull out the victory and improve to 8-1 this season. Hudson is now 6-1.
Sophomore center Hannah Meverden had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Maddie Nikolai added 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Tigers. Meverden was 6 of 13 from the field while the rest of the team made just 10 of 51 shots.
“You shoot 25 percent, but you find a way to win, it shows a lot of mental toughness on our kids’ part,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “There were a lot of times where they were frustrated, but I thought throughout the game, defensively, we really played solid. I thought we rebounded fairly well. When things weren’t going well on the offensive end, they played tough throughout on the other end, and that’s what we have to do in games like this.”
The lead changed hands four times in the first half as Marshfield took an 18-15 lead into the break as it forced 10 turnovers.
The Tigers took a 28-23 lead after a three-point play by Ema Fehrenbach and two free throws from Nikolai and pushed it to six before Hudson stormed back.
A 6-0 run by the Raiders, which included a 3-pointer by Ashley Juza, tied the game with 5:45 to go.
A basket by Shayla Wallin put Hudson up with 50 seconds to go before McKayla Scheuer hit a leaner from the right side with 27 seconds left to tie it back up for the Tigers. The teams combined for three turnovers in the final seconds and it went to overtime.
Nikolai and Sara Dasler each made two free throws to put Marshfield up by four with 25 second left.
After a basket by Juza, Scheuer made one of two at the line and Juza’s 3-pointer to tie it at the buzzer missed everything.
“There’s going to be games when they don’t shoot well, that’s reality,” Michaelis said. “Most of the time it’s not going to be Meg (Bryan), Scheuer and Ema all at the same time, but tonight it was. But Ema was a really good passer tonight, she had five assists, and made people around her better. You can’t hang your head, you just have to play hard.
“I’m proud of the kids. Dani (Bender) went in for a few minutes and gave us energy on the defensive end, you had Sara Dasler who sat there a lot in the second half and came in there and made two free throws. It’s a good team win. Coming off a loss, another one would be hard to swallow, so it was a good win for us.”
Hudson will take on Rhinelander at 1:30 p.m. and Marshfield plays Wausau Newman Catholic at 3:15 p.m. on Wednesday as the tournament concludes. The Marshfield game will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com.
Tigers 45, Raiders 42 (OT)
Hudson 15 23 4 – 42
Marshfield 18 20 7 – 45
HUDSON (42): Lucy Fashingbauer 1-2 0-1 2, Lexi Jonas 2-17 1-2 6, Gillian Bolily 0-1 1-2 1, Makenzie White 1-1 0-0 2, Ty Huber 1-5 0-0 2, Kayla Gertschen 0-1 0-0 0, Kylee Christiansen 4-13 1-2 9, Shayla Wallin 1-5 2-4 4, Ashley Juza 6-10 0-0 14, Kassi Jenkins 1-2 0-0 2. FG: 17-57. FT: 5-11. 3-pointers: 3-14 (Juza 2-3, Jonas 1-7, Wallin 0-2, Huber 0-1, Christianson 0-1). Rebounds: 36 (Christiansen 10). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 19. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-1.
MARSHFIELD (45): McKayla Scheuer 4-15 2-6 11, Dani Bender 0-0 0-0 0, Sara Dasler 0-2 2-2 2, Meg Bryan 1-10 1-2 3, Maddie Nikolai 3-12 4-7 10, Ema Fehrenbach 2-12 3-3 7, Hannah Meverden 6-13 0-0 12. FG: 16-64. FT: 12-20. 3-pointers: 1-15 (Scheuer 1-9, Bryan 0-6). Rebounds: 38 (Fehrenbach 13). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 8. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-1.