27th article at the Independent

SECTION 2AAA GIRLS BASKETBALL: No. 3 Marshall holds on against No. 6 Jordan in Section 2AAA opener, 48-39

Chris Drummond

cdrummond@marshallindependent.com

MARSHALL — The third-seeded Marshall girls basketball team opened its postseason quest on Tuesday looking for a strong start. Instead, Marshall faced a tough and physical matchup against sixth-seeded Jordan, but was able to hang on to earn a 48-39 victory in the opening round of the Section 2AAA tournament.

t was a low-scoring affair and hard-fought game in the first half, as the Tigers locked up the Jaguars on defense and held them to just 13 first-half points, holding a nine-point lead at halftime. In the second half, the Jaguars made a run and cut the lead down to four, but two back-to-back threes by Tigers guard Lexie Bednarek pushed the lead back to 10 and the Jaguars wouldn’t threaten again.

Brianna Simpson led the Tigers in scoring with 11 points and Ashleigh Steinbach added 10. Marshall head coach Dan Westby elaborated on his team’s performance in the game.

“It really didn’t look like a first-round game, I just thought both teams battled hard,” Westby said. “I felt really good about our defensive effort in the first half, giving up only 13 points was really good and it was a hard-fought win.”

Coach Westby also advocated about the key point in the game with those back-to-back threes by Bednarek.

“Lexie has done that a number of times for us, she has the ability to spot up and shoot,” Westby said. “We were a little bit stagnant on offense and she gave us a spark to get us going again, that was huge for us.”

Savi Horowitz for the Jaguars led her team in scoring with 10 points.

Marshall (22-5) will host their Section 2AAA semifinal game on Saturday evening at 7 p.m. against the seventh-seeded New Ulm Eagles, who upset second-seeded Mankato West 78-73 on Tuesday.

Marshall 48, Jordan 39

Jordan 13 26 – 39

Marshall 22 26 – 48

Scoring: Marshall (Simpson 3-9, 4-6 11; Steinbach 3-5, 2-4 10; Bednarek 3-3, 0-0 9; Wendorff 1-5, 6-8 8; Jones 3-7, 1-1 7; Panka 1-4, 0-0 2; Wegner 1-2, 0-0 1).

Rebounds: Marshall 29 (Panka 8; Simpson 7; Wendorff 4; Wegner, Jones 3; Bednarek, Andries 2).

Assists: Marshall 12 (Bednarek, Simpson 3; Wegner 2; Steinbach, Jones, Panka, Wendorff 1).

Steals: Marshall 4 (Steinbach 2; Bednarek, Wendorff 1).