By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD – After a tough loss to undefeated D.C. Everest earlier in the week, the Marshfield girls basketball team got just what it needed on Friday.

The Tigers cruised out to a double-digit lead in the first 5 minutes and rolled to a 67-26 victory over Wausau East on Friday night at Marshfield High School.

Marshfield lost its first Wisconsin Valley Conference game Tuesday at D.C. Everest, but responded in a big way against East, which is winless in the conference.

Ellie Kummer scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the first quarter to help Marshfield (11-3 overall, 5-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference) build a 23-10 lead.

“Tuesday was hard loss, but we fought to the end,” Kummer said. “Tonight we just thought we had to play our hardest and bury them, is what we say.”

Caitlin Michaelis and Kummer continued the onslaught in the second quarter, combining to score the all of the points in a 13-0 run over a 2-minute stretch to push the Tigers lead to 36-13.

The Tigers closed the half on a 8-0 run that included Michaelis’ fourth 3-pointer and one from freshman reserve Meg Bryan, to give Marshfield a 44-15 lead at the break.

Marshfield’s relentless defensive pressure forced 14 first-half turnovers that led to numerous fast-break opportunities.

“We haven’t been pressing to start games and really have had to pick our spots,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “Tonight, we needed to get ourselves going so there is no bad feeling from Tuesday. We really wanted to get after it and set the tone.”

Marshfield finished it off with a 16-4 flurry to start the second half. Kummer’s third 3-pointer layups by Natalie Zuelke and Bryan put the Tigers up 60-19.

Heidi Michaelis was pleased to see the Tigers respond to Tuesday’s loss in such a positive manor.

“I am happy with the way we responded after an emotional loss,” she said. “We have our goals and what we need to get better. We didn’t want to come in after Tuesday night, where we played really hard and played a good game, and take a step backward. We kept that level of play high and took a step forward.”

Michaelis finished with 14 points, Bryan had eight and Ema Fehrenbach had six points and six rebounds for the Tigers.

Hannah Euting led Wausau East (1-13 overall, 0-6 WVC) with 11 points and six rebounds.

Marshfield has a week off before hosting Wausau West next Friday and Waunakee on Jan. 24.

(Hub City Times Sports Reporter Paul Lecker is also the publisher of MarshfieldAreaSports.com.)

Tigers 67, Lumberjacks 26

Wausau East 10 5 4 7 – 26
Marshfield 23 21 19 4 – 67
WAUSAU EAST (26): Alex McDonald 1-3 0-2 2, Kali-Faith Sather 2-8 0-0 6, Allie Reif 1-1 0-0 2, Olivia Zipperer 0-2 0-0 0, Jordan Murphy 1-4 0-0 2, Lauren Watters 0-1 0-0 0, Naomi Murphy 1-2 1-1 3, Grace Reineking 0-1 0-0 0, Hannah Euting 5-7 1-1 11. FG: 11-29. FT: 2-4. 3-pointers: 2-10 (Sather 2-6, Murphy 0-1, Reineking 0-1, Watters 0-1, Zipperer 0-1). Rebounds: 17 (Euting 6). Turnovers: 24. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 1-13, 0-6 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (67): McKayla Scheuer 2-6 2-2 7, Meg Bryan 3-6 0-0 8, Caitlin Michaelis 5-10 0-1 14, Ana Jensen 0-2 0-0 0, Sara Dasler 0-1 0-0 0, Natalie Zuelke 2-5 0-0 4, Maddie Nikolai 1-6 0-0 2, Martha Kupfer 0-0 2-2 2, Ellie Kummer 9-11 3-3 24, Jenny Scheppler 0-0 0-0 0, Ema Fehrenbach 0-2 6-8 6, Hannah Meverden 0-1 0-0 0. FG: 22-50. FT: 13-16. 3-pointers: 10-21 (Michaelis 4-8, Kummer 3-4, Bryan 2-4, Scheuer 1-4, Jensen 0-1). Rebounds: 25 (Fehrenbach 6). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 11-3, 5-1 Wisconsin Valley Conference.