Tigers improve to 8-0 in Wisconsin Valley Conference

By Paul Lecker

Sports Reporter

MARSHFIELD — The Marshfield girls basketball team took another important step toward a Wisconsin Valley Conference championship with a 63-58 victory over Stevens Point in a hard-fought game Friday night at The Boson Company Fieldhouse at Marshfield High School.

The Tigers made 10 of 13 free throws in the second half, including six straight in the final 30 seconds to hold off Stevens Point and improve to 16-2 overall and 8-0 in the Valley. Point is now 8-11 and 4-5 in the conference.

Marshfield maintains a two-game lead over Merrill and D.C. Everest in the conference standings with four games remaining.

“It comes down to a free throw here or there, a stop here or there, and I’m proud of my kids. They battled,” Marshfield coach Heidi Michaelis said. “This is a huge win for us. When Point makes shots and play like they did tonight, it’s tough.”

Stevens Point pulled ahead 35-34 early in the second half before Marshfield quickly regained the lead on a 3-pointer by McKayla Scheuer.

Marshfield led the rest of the way but was never able to pull away.

Ema Fehrenbach scored five-straight points to give the Tigers a 49-41 lead with 10:37 left.

A 3-pointer by Meg Bryan put Marshfield up 57-51 with 2:46 to go, but that was the last field goal by the Tigers.

Taylor Beadles hit a 3-pointer, and Lauren Gerads scored inside to cut the Tigers’ lead to 57-56 with 33 seconds left.

Scheuer made four-straight free throws, and Maddie Nikolai had a steal and two free throws with 4.9 seconds to go to finish off the win.

“Our nemesis all year has been taking care of the ball, and we turned it over at some bad points,” Michaelis said. “They capitalized on those turnovers, but for us it was about finding another way to win a game. We made big free throws down the stretch. Maddie was in some trouble after throwing the ball away, but she came up with a steal on the other end, and that shows a lot of character on her part. She didn’t hang her head and continued to play hard.”

Fehrenbach had 16 points and nine rebounds, Scheuer added 14 points, and Bryan had 12 for Marshfield.

Maggie Negaard led Stevens Point with 18 points and seven rebounds. Rachel Sullivan also had 12 rebounds.

Marshfield is at Wisconsin Rapids as part of a girls-boys doubleheader on Tuesday. The girls game starts at 6 p.m. with the boys game to follow at 7:45 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on WDLB-AM 1450 and wdlbwosq.com.

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

Tigers 63, Panthers 58

Stevens Point 28 30 – 58

Marshfield 32 31 – 63

STEVENS POINT (58): Taylor Beadles 3-7 0-0 9, Brooke Tuszka 2-4 2-2 7, Kaylin Kostuchowski 0-1 0-0 0, Hannah Worzella 1-5 0-0 3, Halle Gregorich 0-4 1-2 1, Rachel Sullivan 1-4 0-0 2, Maggie Negaard 6-21 6-6 18, Halle Pavelski 1-1 2-3 4, Lauren Gerads 5-12 2-2 14. FG: 19-59. FT: 13-15. 3-pointers: 7-28 (Beadles 3-6, Gerads 2-6, Tuszka 1-2, Worzella 1-4, Gregorich 0-2, Negaard 0-8). Rebounds: 34 (Sullivan 12). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: none. Record: 8-11, 4-5 Wisconsin Valley Conference.

MARSHFIELD (63): McKayla Scheuer 4-12 4-5 14, Dani Bender 0-0 0-0 0, Meg Bryan 4-8 1-2 12, Sara Dasler 1-2 0-0 2, Jenna Jakobi 0-2 3-4 3, Corianne Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Maddie Nikolai 3-5 2-2 8, Ema Fehrenbach 3-11 10-16 16, Hannah Meverden 3-4 2-2 8. FG: 18-44. FT: 22-31. 3-pointers: 5-13 (Bryan 3-7, Scheuer 2-6). Rebounds: 33 (Fehrenbach 9, Meverden 8). Turnovers: 14. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 16-2, 8-0 Wisconsin Valley Conference.