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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic girls basketball team turned to its defense in the second half as it suffocated Wausau Newman Catholic in the final 18 minutes and the Dons pulled away for a 45-28 win in a WIAA Division 5 regional quarterfinal Wednesday at Columbus Catholic High School.
The Dons led 20-17 at halftime and forced turnovers on six of Newman’s first seven possessions in the second half to open up a nine-point lead and were never threatened the rest of the way.
No. 8 seed Columbus Catholic (12-12) moves on to a Division 5 regional semifinal at No. 1 seed Wisconsin Rapids Assumption (22-3) on Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live at zaleskisports.com. Ninth-seed Newman Catholic finishes its season with a 10-14 record.
Newman Catholic hung close in the first half as Maggie Wulf and Lily Shields hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Cardinals on top 14-12 with 4:41 to go in the first half.
Columbus responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a rebound and basket from Jenna Kibbel. Wulf hit another 3-pointer for Newman and the Dons took a 20-17 lead into the break.
After a basket from Lily Stratman for Columbus and another 3-pointer from Wulf, the Dons held Newman scoreless for the next 6:21.
A basket from Hailey Zimmermann, who finished with 12 points and eight rebounds, gave Columbus Catholic a 29-20 lead with 10:54 left.
Newman went through another long scoreless stretch of 4½ minutes as the Dons were able to push their lead to double digits. A steal and layup from Maggie Callaghan, who had a team-high 15 points, gave Columbus a 38-24 lead with 5 minutes to go.
After two hoops from Newman’s Evie Bates cut it to 10, the Dons finished the game on a 7-0 run.
“It definitely feels good to move on,” Columbus Catholic coach Ron Wilczek said. “It might have been one of our better games of the year, a complete game. We did a great job on Wulf tonight. She had 16 points, but it wasn’t easy. We rebounded the basketball well, which you have to do against them, and we shot it well.”
Wulf had a team-high 16 points and eight rebounds for Newman.
Dons 45, Cardinals 28
Newman Catholic 17 11 – 28
Columbus Catholic 20 25 – 45
NEWMAN CATHOLIC (28): Evie Bates 2-5 0-0 4, Ashly Jankowski 1-5 1-2 3, Mel Severson 0-2 0-0 0, Lily Shields 1-5 2-2 5, Maggie Wulf 5-14 3-4 16, Lily Zeimetz 0-6 0-0 0, Danisa Zenk 0-0 0-0 0. FG: 9-37. FT: 6-8. 3-pointers: 4-12 (Wulf 3-6, Shields 1-2, Severson 0-1, Jankowski 0-3). Rebounds: 26 (Bates 9). Turnovers: 31. Fouls: 15. Fouled out: Shields. Record: 10-14.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (45): Maggie Callaghan 5-13 2-2 15, Mira Torbey 0-0 0-0 0, Gracie Wilczek 3-8 0-0 6, Sam Casperson 0-2 0-0 0, Hailey Zimmermann 4-7 3-4 12, Lily Stratman 2-4 2-3 6, Courtney Sommer 1-4 0-0 2, Jenna Kibbel 2-11 0-2 4. FG: 17-49. FT: 7-11. 3-pointers: 4-15 (Callaghan 3-7, Zimmermann 1-3, Casperson 0-2, Kibbel 0-3). Rebounds: 29 (Zimmermann 8). Turnovers: 22. Fouls: 10. Fouled out: none. Record: 12-12.