By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD – Wausau West scored the first seven points of the game and never trailed, shocking the Marshfield girls basketball team with a 53-44 victory on Friday night at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.

The loss is damaging to Marshfield’s hopes of a WVC championship as it now falls to 11-4 overall and 5-2 in the conference, two games behind undefeated D.C. Everest.

Jasmin Samz, a Saint Louis University recruit, was virtually unstoppable, scoring 36 points for the Warriors (5-10, 4-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference).

A 3-pointer by Jessyka Wiskofske put West up 7-0 in the first 90 seconds of the game and Marshfield struggled to get back in it.

The Warriors closed the first quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 16-6 lead and pushed the lead to as much as 15 in the second quarter as Samz scored all of their 11 points.

A rebound and basket by Natalie Zuelke and two free throws from Caitlin Michaelis brought Marshfield to within a 27-16 score at halftime.

Marshfield held West scoreless for the first 4:44 of the third quarter and cut the lead to four after a Michaelis 3-pointer.

However, Samz converted a three-point play, Wiskofske hit another 3-pointer and Shelby Samz hit a jumper to keep the Warriors ahead 35-28 heading into the fourth.

Jasmin Samz scored 18 points in each half and scored 15 of the Warriors’ 18 points in the fourth quarter as West avenged a 35-point loss to Marshfield early in the season when the Tigers scored a season-high 73 points.

“There is a reason she’s a Division I athlete,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michealis said. “When we played over at West, she doesn’t like to be held to nine points. We took pride in our defense that night, and tonight we didn’t. She just out-worked us. She’s a special player and she definitely showed why she is where she’s at.”

Marshfield could only get as close as three after a three-point play by Ema Fehrenbach and a basket by Ellie Kummer cut West’s advantage to 40-37 with 4:30 to go.

West, despite making just 11 of 19 free throws in the fourth, were able to hold on as Marshfield missed 11 of its 17 shot attempts.

Outside shooting was woeful for the Tigers, as they were just 2 of 27 from 3-point range and 16 of 53 overall. Both of their makes came in a one-minute span in the third quarter.

West also held a 32-22 rebounding advantage and scored 12 points on second-chance efforts.

“They just outplayed us tonight,” Heidi Michaelis said. “I thought they wanted it more and brought more intensity. When things didn’t go well for us, instead of bearing down, we kind of let it snowball. In a game when it’s not going well, you need to get the easy ones to go, and when they don’t, it just compounds. Obviously the long ones weren’t working for us.”

Marshfield is back in action Saturday with a nonconference home game against Waunakee at 3:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com.

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

Warriors 53, Tigers 44
Wausau West 16 11 8 18 – 53
Marshfield 6 10 12 16 – 44
WAUSAU WEST (53): Alexa Sheehan 0-1 0-3 0, Miranda Clausen 0-0 0-0 0, Helena Winterhoff 0-0 0-0 0, Jessyka Wiskofkse 2-5 2-5 8, Lauren Conley 1-7 0-0 2, Shelby Samz 1-2 0-0 2, Jasmin Samz 11-18 10-12 36, Adrianna Truax 0-0 0-0 0, Sarah Snoeyenbos 2-3 1-5 5. FG: 17-36. FT: 13-25. 3-pointers: 6-15 (J. Samz 4-7, Wiskofske 2-5, S. Samz 0-1, Conley 0-2). Rebounds: 32 (Wiskofske 8). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 16. Fouled out: none. Record: 5-10, 4-3 Wisconsin Valley Conference.
MARSHFIELD (44): McKayla Scheuer 2-7 0-0 5, Meg Bryan 0-1 0-0 0, Caitlin Michaelis 4-20 2-2 11, Natalie Zuelke 1-1 0-1 2, Maddie Nikolai 0-0 0-0 0, Martha Kupfer 0-0 0-0 0, Ellie Kummer 3-13 2-2 8, Ema Fehrenbach 4-9 6-8 14, Hannah Meverden 2-2 0-0 4. FG: 16-53. FT: 10-13. 3-pointers: 2-27 (Michaelis 1-13, Scheuer 1-6, Kummer 0-7, Bryan 0-1). Rebounds: 22 (Scheuer 7). Turnovers: 6. Fouls: 23. Fouled out: Scheuer. Record: 11-4, 5-2 Wisconsin Valley Conference.