This story is sponsored by: The Marshfield Tiger Booster Club
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield girls basketball team turned up the defensive pressure Tuesday night against Merrill and used it to push toward its first Wisconsin Valley Conference victory of the season.
The Tigers held Merrill to just four made baskets through the first 28 minutes and went on to a 47-32 victory at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.
Marshfield snapped a mini two-game losing skid and improves to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the WVC. Merrill is now 4-2 and 1-2 in the conference.
After allowing more than 70 points in each of the last two games, Marshfield swarmed the ball consistently in the first half, blocking a number of shots and forcing eight turnovers.
Corianne Johnson hit a 3-pointer and made another hoop to push the Tigers out to a 13-4 lead as they never trailed.
Merrill’s first basket from the field didn’t come until the 6:05 mark of the half, and it didn’t make another until Maddix Bonnell hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 23-11 at halftime.
“We outrebounded them, defensively we were better, so that’s an improvement, now we just have to take care of the ball better,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said.
Ema Fehrenbach had a pair of baskets and Johnson hit another as the Tigers scored the first seven points of the second half.
Merrill made its first hoop of the second half 6:48 in and Marshfield responded with six points in a row to extend its lead to 23 with 8 minutes left.
Fehrenbach finished with 13 points and five rebounds, Johnson added 12 points, and Katie Osinski had eight points off the bench for the Tigers.
One concerning thing for Michaelis was the number of turnovers. Marshfield finished with 19.
“Tonight we got it away with it, but if we do not value the ball better than that, we will lose games,” Michaelis said. “It’s the thing we’re harping on the most and we’ll continue to work on it. It comes down to being smart and disciplined.
“We’ve been playing for more than a month, but we’ve only had five games. Part of it is the game situations and taking what’s given to you. I know we’ll continue to get better and we’ll be a team that, at the end, is better than we are right now.”
Marshfield plays a nonconference game at Bay Port on Thursday.
Tigers 47, Bluejays 32
Merrill 11 21 – 32
Marshfield 23 24 – 47
MERRILL (32): Maddix Bonnell 2-12 3-4 8, Kate Peterson 2-6 0-0 4, Elizabeth Iribarren 2-4 1-4 5, Allie Turenne 0-4 0-0 0, Lindsey Casper 1-5 2-2 4, Patience Pyan 2-8 3-5 7, Brianna Grosskurth 0-1 0-0 0, Trista Rathke 0-1 0-0 0, Chelsey Lamonica 0-4 0-0 0, Allison Winter-Reed 1-4 2-4 4. FG: 10-49. FT: 11-19. 3-pointers: 1-10 (Bonnell 1-5, Turenne 0-1, Pyan 0-2, Peterson 0-2). Rebounds: 26 (Bonnell 5, Iribarren 5, Winter-Reed 5). Turnovers: 15. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-2, 1-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (47): Shantel Nienast 0-0 0-0 0, Meg Bryan 3-9 0-0 7, Kendra Tremelling 0-0 0-0 0, Jenna Jakobi 2-4 0-0 4, Corianne Johnson 4-6 3-4 12, Maddie Nikolai 1-7 1-2 3, Ema Fehrenbach 5-7 3-5 13, Katie Osinski 4-5 0-0 8, Sophie Koehn 0-0 0-1 0. FG: 19-38. FT: 7-12. 3-pointers: 2-7 (Johnson 1-2, Bryan 1-5). Rebounds: 34 (Jakobi 8). Turnovers: 21. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 2-3, 1-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.