The second game on tap from Mariucci Arena on this day was the last Class AAA Quarterfinal game featuring Chisago Lakes going up against #3 seed Marshall. Again, two teams that I know very little about but the Tigers out of Marshall got here by virtue of their 64-60 win over Hutchinson in the 2AAA Championship game and sport a great 28-1 record. Chisago Lakes knocked off Grand Rapids in the 7AAA Championship game and bring a solid 22-6 record to the table.
Just from watching the starting line-ups in this one, my big question was how exactly would Marshall handle Chisago Lakes 6'5" senior post Bryanna Fernstrom in this one? This is a relatively young Wildcats team with Chisago Lakes only having two other seniors on the roster which is dominated by sophomores and juniors. Indeed, a Fernstrom lay-up at the 16:33 mark had Chisago Lakes up early 2-0 and a rebound and putback by Fernstrom made it a 4-2 Wildcat lead at the 15:56 mark. But Marshall would hang tough and the Tigers would strike back. A "3" from the left top area at the 14:56 mark by senior guard Hannah Bennett let Marshall assume an 8-4 lead and junior forward Morgan Saugstad's score in the paint at the 13:39 mark expanded the Tiger lead to 12-6. Chisago Lakes was able to slice the deficit to five trailing 18-13 by the 10:40 mark but the Tigers responded quickly getting the lead back to 22-13 by the 10:05 mark.
Things would quickly go south for the Wildcats as Marshall proceeded to go on a 13-6 run; sparked by a pair of free throws by 5'9" junior guard Sarah Buysse and two scores by senior forward Kenzie Beekman - a score in the paint after a steal with 3:49 left and a running jumper with 2:47 left - that upped the Tigers lead to 33-19. Marshall would eventually take a 41-21 lead into the locker room at the half and a look at the stat sheet revealed some rather unattractive numbers for Chisago Lakes: the Wildcats shot only 26.9% (7-26) from FG range and behind the arc numbers weren't any better as Chisago Lakes was only 2-7 for 28.6%. The only real positive the Wildcats had - thanks to Fernstrom - was an edge on the rebounds by a 24-20 count. Even more shocking for Chisago Lakes is that it was 8th grader Carmen Backes leading the Wildcats in scoring with eight points. Bennett and Beekman paced the Tigers with 11 points a piece.
The dam quickly broke for Chisago Lakes once the second half underway as the Tigers continued their assault; expanding the twenty-point cushion they had already established to as much as 25 points midway through the second half. Buysse was active on both ends of the floor and Beekman and Bennett were contributing on the scoring front as well. Just as important, the Tigers answered by main question at the beginning as they effectively neutralized Chisago Lakes' Fenstrom from being a decisive scoring factor. The senior was getting her blocks (she had three of them in the first half) but the Tigers effectively shut her down in the second half as Chisago Lakes had a tough time just getting the ball inside. With 5:30 left, the Tigers had established a cozy 61-33 advantage and this gave Marshall Head Coach Dan Westby a chance to put some of his reserves into the game to give them some experience on the big stage. Junior Meghann Naughton got a score in the paint with 4:33 left and junior reserve post Jackie Petrich got a chance to sink a couple of freebies for a 65-39 Tiger advantage. Sophmore reserve guard Abby Louwagie also got a chance to sink a couple of charity stripe shots and Marshall waltzed to a 68-44 victory. Bennett's 13 points paced the Tigers in a fairly balanced scoring effort. Beekman tallied 11 and sophomore Marah Mulso poured in ten points. Fernstrom led the way for Chisago Lakes with 24 points while the 8th grader Backes had 8 points.
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