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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – As has been the case in most of the Marshfield girls basketball team’s games during the past two months, the Tigers fought and clawed their way to a victory on Friday.
Marshfield outscored Merrill 25-9 over the final 11 minutes and posted a 61-45 victory over Merrill in a Wisconsin Valley Conference game at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
The win, Marshfield’s eighth straight, clinches second place in the Wisconsin Valley Conference for the Tigers. D.C. Everest wrapped up its first outright Valley title since 1997 with a 69-67 win in overtime over Stevens Point.
The Tigers are now 14-7 and 9-2 in the WVC with one game remaining at Wausau West next Thursday. Merrill falls to 13-7 and 7-4 in the conference.
Marshfield saw its six-point halftime lead evaporate as Merrill pushed ahead 34-33 on a rebound and basket by Morgan Wilde with 4:36 to go in the third quarter.
The Tigers quickly recovered and closed out the quarter with a 6-0 run over the final 1:20 to take a 42-36 lead.
Freshman Ema Fehrenbach scored two baskets and McKayla Scheuer added another as the Tigers were able to regroup and forge ahead again, something they have been able to do time and time again during their eight-game win streak.
“In the beginning of the third quarter, we didn’t play defense,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “From that point on we just said ‘You have to get stops.’ We went back to man (man-to-man defense) and we just played smarter and played harder. We got consecutive stops and got our offense going.”
Marshfield continued its onslaught by scoring 12 of the first 14 points of the fourth quarter.
Caitlin Michaelis had seven of her 14 points in the run as the Tigers went up 54-38 with just over 2 minutes to go in the game.
Marshfield made 11 of 13 free throws in the fourth quarter and finished 17 of 23 in the game.
“They came back and took the lead on us and we kind of ran away from them,” Heidi Michaelis said. “That’s what this team can do. They take care of the ball and run good offense, and get some stops. They take pride in that.
“We’ve played in so many close games and that doesn’t phase us.”
Ellie Kummer scored 19 of her game-high 22 points in the first half as she made 5 of 5 from 3-point range and made seven straight shots in all in the half.
Kummer was blanked by Merrill in the second half and was held to just two shot attempts, so others had to step up.
Ema Fehrenbach had eight points, and Ellie Fehrenbach and Scheuer each had six in addition to Michaelis’ seven in the second half.
“We do have a lot of people that can score on this team…pick your poison, if you take her away someone else is going to have to step,” Heidi Michaelis said. “We’re happy with this win. We felt the reason we aren’t conference champs is having a four-point lead with 3 minutes to go and letting that one go up there (in Merrill). We were bummed about that. The only way to fix that is to finish the season the way we have and to be at our best when the tournament comes. I feel like we’re heading in that direction.”
Dawn Leland had 11 points and Anna Finnell added 10 to lead Merrill.
Tigers 61, Bluejays 45
Merrill 6 16 14 9 – 45
Marshfield 12 16 14 19 – 61
MERRILL (45): Dawn Leland 3-6 2-2 11, Emily Page 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Marnholtz 3-3 0-0 8, Hannah Marrier 0-1 0-0 0, Starr Krenzke 2-2 0-0 4, Mariah Turenne 0-3 0-0 0, Anna Finnell 4-6 2-3 10, Morgan Wilde 2-2 0-2 4, Reegan Byer 1-2 0-0 2, Renee Sladek 2-7 2-2 6. FG: 17-32. FT: 6-9. 3-pointers: 5-8 (Leland 3-5, Marnholtz 2-2, Turenne 0-1). Rebounds: 13 (Sladek 4). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: Finnell. Record: 13-7, 7-4 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (61): McKayla Scheuer 3-7 0-0 6, Caitlin Michaelis 4-9 5-5 14, Natalie Zuelke 1-1 2-2 4, Lauren Gilbertson 0-0 0-0 0, Martha Kupfer 0-1 0-0 0, Ellie Kummer 7-10 3-4 22, Ema Fehrenbach 3-5 2-6 8, Ellie Fehrenbach 1-5 4-4 6, Kailey Hubler 0-1 1-2 1. FG: 19-39. FT: 17-23. 3-pointers: 6-12 (Kummer 5-6, Michaelis 1-5, Scheuer 0-1). Rebounds: 21 (Michaelis 5, Gilbertson 4). Turnovers: 8. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 14-7, 9-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.