17th article at the Independent

PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Marshall uses strong first half to get past St. Peter, win Big South Conference crown Chris Drummond cdrummond@marshallindependent.com MARSHALL — Earlier in the season, the Marshall girls basketball team fell to St. Peter 61-44. Since then, both Marshall and St. Peter have gone unbeaten in Big South Conference play (12-0 for MHS, 10-0 for the Saints). So when the two teams squared off in the conference championship game on Tuesday, they knew things weren’t going to be easy.

Thanks to a strong first half, the Tigers would exact revenge and remain on top of the conference with a 60-36 victory. The Tigers imposed their will in the opening half by using a trapping defense, forcing multiple turnovers by the Saints which resulted in easy baskets for Marshall. The intensity was exhibited by the Tigers being relentless on defense, having active hands and flying around the ball giving up nothing easy. They held St. Peter to just 16 points in the opening half. Marshall head coach Dan Westby commented on how the intensity from his team was there from the start. “We were really happy with our kids’ intensity in the game,” Westby said. “Our kids were really focused and got after it from the start.”

The Tigers took a 22-point advantage into the half at 38-16. Senior guard Ashleigh Steinbach scored 15 points in the opening half, almost outscoring the entire Saints team by herself. In the second half though, the Saints made a mini run scoring 14 of the first 18 points in the half to trim the Tigers lead to 12. Steinbach would make two consecutive 3-pointers though and push the lead back to 18 and the Saints didn’t threaten again as Marshall would cruise to victory.

The conference championship is Marshall’s fifth in the eight-year history of the conference and third straight. Coach Westby talked about being Big South Conference champions.

“Well it’s one of the goals that the players set,” Westby said. “We said we needed to do two things, rebound and defend to win, that’s what we did.” Westby would also comment on how much the loss to the Saints earlier in the year fueled the team in Tuesday’s rematch.

“They really took it to us the first time around and we told our kids that we need to put ourselves in position to play them again,” Westby said. “Couldn’t be prouder of our kids tonight and the way they brought it with their intensity.”

Steinbach had a game-high 25 points including four 3-pointers made as well. Her teammate Bri Simpson scored also in double figures with 14 points.

Sophomore guard Rhyan Holmgren led the Saints in scoring with 19 points.

Marshall (20-4) will host next the Hill-Murray Pioneers on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.

Marshall 60, St. Peter 36

St. Peter 16 20 – 36

Marshall 38 22 – 60

Scoring: Marshall (Steinbach 9-12, 3-5 25; Simpson 5-14, 4-4 14; Wegner 3-3, 1-1 8; Wendorff 2-4, 0-2 5; Andries 1-2, 1-2 3; L. Jones 1-3, 1-1 3; Wherry 1-1, 0-0 2).

Rebounds: Marshall 27 (Steinbach, Andries 5; Wegner 4; Jones, Wendorff, Simpson 3; Bjella 2; Wherry, Panka 1).

Assists: Marshall 16 (Wegner 9; Simpson 5; Steinbach, Wendorff 1).