33rd article at the Independent

SECTION 2AAA GIRLS BASKETBALL: No. 3 Marshall takes out No. 7 New Ulm, advances to Section 2AAA championship

MARSHALL – After earning a victory against Jordan in their Section 2AAA opener, the No. 3 Marshall girls basketball team looked to keep its momentum going while their opponent, No. 7 New Ulm, searched for another upset after stunning No. 2 Mankato West earlier in the week. Marshall maintained its momentum, using a strong first half before holding off a late push by New Ulm to earn a 75-62 victory on Saturday and advance to the Section 2AAA championship game.

The Tigers started out on fire forcing consecutive turnovers to build a 10-3 lead which led to an Eagles timeout. Then the Eagles responded by tying up the ballgame at 10-all before ultimately taking the lead multiple times in the opening half. The Eagles had a slim lead before a late 9-0 run by the Tigers closed the opening half to give them a 32-24 lead.

In the second half, New Ulm stayed close, but could never overtake the lead from Marshall. The Tigers used an inside presence to score at will and keep the Eagles at bay. Marshall head coach Dan Westby credited the Eagles for continuing to challenge them and talked about the advantage his team had inside.

“You have to tip your cap to this New Ulm team, they didn’t go away and battled us the whole game,” Westby said. “We felt like we had a size advantage and our kids did a really good job of using it.”

Junior guard Brianna Simpson led the Tigers in scoring with 18 points while teammate Ashleigh Steinbach added 16 and had a team-high eight assists.

This win would give the Tigers their 23rd win of the season. They will face the winner of No. 1 Mankato East and No. 5 Worthington in the Section 2AAA championship game on Thursday at 7 p.m. at MSU Mankato. Mankato East and Worthington will play today at 7 p.m. after their game on Saturday was postponed due to weather. The Tigers lost to the Cougars earlier this season and swept the Trojans in two meetings this season.

Marshall 75, New Ulm 62

New Ulm 24 38 – 62

Marshall 32 43 – 75

Scoring: Marshall (Simpson 5-9, 8-10 18; Steinbach 5-13, 3-4 16; Bednarek 4-9, 0-0 12; Wendorff 4-5, 2-3 10; Jones 3-6, 0-1 6; Panka 2-3, 2-4 6; Wegner 1-4, 2-2 5; Andries 1-1, 0-0 2).

Rebounds: Marshall 25 (Jones 6; Panka 4; Steinbach, Simpson, Wendorff 3; Bednarek, Wegner, Andries 2).

Assists: Marshall 25 (Steinbach 8; Bednarek 6; Wegner 5; Simpson 3; Wendorff, Panka, Wherry 1).

Steals: Marshall 4 (Bednarek, Wegner, Jones, Andries 1).