This story is sponsored by: High Street Salon, Spa & Travel
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – On a night when Marshfield Columbus Catholic’s leading scorer Jess Trad was bottled up by the Greenwood defense, fellow junior Abby Baierl stepped to the forefront.
Baierl made 6 of 10 shots from 3-point range and finished with a game-high 21 points to lead the Dons to a comfortable 59-40 victory in a WIAA Division 5 girls basketball regional quarterfinal on Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.
Columbus Catholic (12-11) advances to a regional semifinal at No. 1 seed Loyal (20-3) on Friday night at 7 p.m.
Baierl hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter to help Columbus take an 11-2 lead.
Greenwood (5-18) missed on its final eight shots and turned the ball over six times in the quarter to fall behind quickly. The Indians played better after that point, but were never able to make a game of it.
Two baskets by Alexandra Hutchison, another 3-pointer from Baierl and a three-point play by Natalie Pospyhalla allowed the Dons to push their lead to 21-6 three minutes into the second quarter. Columbus led by double figures the rest of the way.
“We got off to a quick start and did a real good job with a lot of players contributing,” Columbus Catholic coach Bryan DeVries said. “Abby Baierl shot the ball quite well for us and that makes a big difference. We were a little bit soft inside and we need to get a little bit stronger in the post, especially against Loyal on Friday night. All in all, it was a pretty good win for us tonight.”
Baierl hit her fourth 3-pointer with 10 seconds left in half and drilled another one on the Dons’ first possession of the third quarter to push their advantage to 29-12.
Greenwood would only get as close as 12 points in the second half and finished with 21 turnovers. The Dons shot 44 percent (23 of 52) while holding Greenwood to 32 percent (17 of 52) from the field. With Trad making just 2 of 14 shots from the field, Columbus found other ways to score, which it will have to do again Friday against high-powered Loyal.
“There are an elite bunch of teams on the top of our division and Loyal is one of them,” DeVries said. “It’s going to be a struggle. We let them go on a big run against us the first time. If we can play good, consistent basketball, I think we can be competitive with them. If you watch them play, they are so talented, so quick and relentless.
“Our girls are going to have to value every possession, they’re going to have to take care of the basketball on the offensive end and be alert for kids coming in from behind them, and we have to be physical inside.”
Dons 59, Indians 40
Greenwood 2 10 16 12 – 40
Columbus Catholic 11 15 19 14 – 59
GREENWOOD (40): Madison Lucas 0-2 0-0 0, Kassidy Lamovec 1-4 0-0 2, Kaylee Meyer 2-4 1-2 5, Kelly Nielsen 0-0 0-0 0, Natalie Hackel 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Opelt 7-20 2-6 17, Renee Herdrich 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Hinker 3-7 0-0 6, Kristyn Nigon 0-0 0-0 0, Lexi Hinker 0-6 1-2 1, Kaylee Learman 2-2 0-0 4, Ashley Walker 2-7 0-0 5. FG: 17-52. FT: 4-10. 3-pointers: 2-13 (Walker 1-5, Opelt 1-4, L. HInker 0-3, Lamovec 0-1). Rebounds: 34 (Opelt 8). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 5-18.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (45): Meena Thill 3-6 1-2 8, Morgan Albrecht 0-0 0-2 0, Alexandra Hutchison 4-6 0-1 8, Baylie Neider 0-0 0-0 0, Alishia Reigel 3-3 0-0 6, Kendra Baierl 0-1 0-0 0, Jess Trad 2-14 2-3 6, Abby Baierl 7-14 1-2 21, Natalie Pospyhalla 1-2 2-3 4, Neale Tracy 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Stratman 2-5 0-0 4, Marissa Immerfall 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 23-52. FT: 6-13. 3-pointers: 7-19 (A. Baierl 6-10, Thill 1-2, Trad 0-7). Rebuonds: 33 (Trad 5). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 12-11.