This story is sponsored by: All Insurance of Marshfield
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – In what was a must-win situation for D.C. Everest, if it wanted to stay in the race for a Wisconsin Valley Conference title, the Evergreens came to play with a relentless attack that kept Marshfield on its heels throughout the game.
D.C. Everest held a 44-22 rebounding advantage, with 17 coming on the offensive end, and pulled away in the final 5 minutes to beat Marshfield 66-53 on Friday night at Marshfield High School.
The two teams are now tied for the Wisconsin Valley Conference lead at 7-2 with three conference games remaining.
D.C. Everest (12-6 overall) never trailed after racing out to a 9-2 lead.
Marshfield rallied to tie the game three times, at 13-13, 26-26, and 39-39, but each time the Evergreens responded, using a their offensive rebounding advantage to score 15 second-chance points.
A three-point play Corianne Johnson tied the game for Marshfield at 39-39 with 10:37 left. Everest’s Lauren Rohr hit a 3-pointer on its next possession and the Evergreens led the rest of the way.
The 3-pointer sparked an 8-0 run and the Tigers’ lack of rebounding hurt their comeback chances.
“You can not win games when you don’t rebound,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “Especially against a team that is that big, not only are they big, they are standing right there for layups. We’ve struggled with it all year and we’ve been able to squeak by with it.
“I thought Everest played well, took advantage of their size, and pounded it on the inside. I don’t think we did a lot of things poorly, that was just the glaring thing tonight that took us out of the game.”
Marshfield got as close as four at 49-45 after a three-point play from Ema Fehrenbach, but the Tigers would only make one more basket over the final 4:40, a 3-pointer from Meg Bryan in the final seconds.
Everest made 5 of 9 free throws over the final 4 minutes, and on two of its misses it was able to get the offensive rebound and score.
Maddie Nikolai and Fehrenbach each had 14 points to lead Marshfield (9-8 overall).
Natalie Mohring topped Everest with 24 points, and Lexie Higgins had 15 rebounds in the win.
“I felt we were on our heels the entire night, playing from behind,” Michaelis said. “We’d get a stop, but then don’t get it because we can’t clear (the rebound). You can’t live and die like that. They got a lot of easy shots. We’re disappointed, but there’s a lot of season left. We’re still in control of it, not relying on someone to beat someone else.”
Marshfield will play at Chippewa Falls in a nonconference game Tuesday and will play Wausau East on back-to-back days next Friday at East and Saturday at home.
Evergreens 66, Tigers 53
D.C. Everest 29 37 – 66
Marshfield 27 26 – 53
D.C. EVEREST (66): Madison Stolze 0-0 0-0 0, Malorie Schmoll 1-1 0-0 3, Sarah Lehrke 2-6 0-0 4, Lauren Rohr 2-5 0-0 6, Natalie Mohring 9-15 5-7 24, Taylor Petit 3-10 6-8 12, Ashley Hodell 5-10 2-10 12, Lexie Higgins 2-11 1-2 5. FG: 24-58. FT: 14-27. 3-pointers: 4-10 (Rohr 2-4, Schmoll 1-1, Mohring 1-2, Petit 0-1, Lehrke 0-2). Rebounds: 44 (Higgins 15). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 21. Fouled out: none. Record: 12-6, 7-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (53): Meg Bryan 4-6 0-0 12, Jenna Jakobi 1-8 1-2 3, Corianne Johnson 2-6 3-3 8, Maddie Nikolai 6-13 2-3 14, Ema Fehrenbach 3-9 8-12 14, Hannah Meverden 1-3 0-0 2, Katie Osinski 0-0 0-1 0, Sophie Koehn 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 17-45. FT: 14-21. 3-pointers: 5-11 (Bryan 4-6, Johnson 1-5). Rebounds: 22 (Fehrenbach 7, Jakobi 7). Turnovers: 17. Fouls: 20. Technical foul: Nikolai. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-8, 7-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.