WORTHINGTON -- The Marshall Tigers overcame an 8-point deficit in the second half and came away with a 64-58 victory over the Worthington Trojans Saturday afternoon in high school girls basketball.
Fouls were frequent in the Big South Conference game played between two old rivals at the WHS gymnasium, and foul trouble bit the Trojans harder than it did the Tigers. Marshall already had a 1-point lead when Worthington’s Evelyn Othow was whistled for her fifth foul with 4:25 remaining in the game. At 3:17, teammate Anneke Weg picked up her fifth. And a third Trojan, Sophie Wietzema, fouled out at 1:59.
With 46.8 seconds left to play, Marshall’s Paige Andries sunk two free throws to give her team a 61-55 lead. Worthington’s Payton Sauerbrei swished a 3-point shot to bring the margin to 62-58 as her team called a time-out with 10.3 seconds remaining. Marshall’s Kaia Sueker, fouled on the in-bounds pass, made two more charity tosses and the Tigers were in the clear.
Jordyn Hilgemann, a 5-8 freshman, led Marshall with 20 points. Andries had 10. Hannah Meier contributed 11.
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In a foul-heavy first half, Worthington took a 33-26 lead into intermission. The Tigers came out of the break more controlled. Their spacing was better, their passes were crisper, and their defense was more effective against the always-aggressive but more foul-conscious Trojans.
“We felt like a faster pace probably favors Worthington,” said MHS head coach Dan Westby. “And we talked about that before the game -- we had to play under control. And we did that in the second half.”
With 12 and a half minutes left in the second half, Worthington led by eight points. But things began to change in a hurry. At 10:39, a Sueker 3-pointer gave Marshall a 44-34 advantage. Moments later, versatile 6-0 Trojan sophomore Nyamer Diew was called for an offensive foul, which seemed to take the Trojans out of their game at least momentarily. Diew needed a trainer immediately afterward and she missed about three minutes of action while the Tigers held onto their lead.
The way the game was called, WHS coach Eric Lindner agreed, didn’t do his team any favors.
“There was a certain tentativeness (in the second half),” he said. “We were in it. … I can’t believe that we played any more aggressively than they did. It was just hard to adjust to the flow.”
Marshall converted 30 of 43 free throws in the game. Worthington made nine of 13.
Senior guard Emma Thuringer led Worthington in scoring with 17 points, demonstrating a nifty touch with either hand. Othow scored 12 points on four 3-point shots and Sauerbrei had 10 points.
Weg and Ashlyn Rosenberg had eight rebounds apiece, and Sauerbrei had five assists for the Trojans.
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The win pushed Marshall to 4-0 on the young season while sinking Worthington to 2-2.
Marshall 26 64
Worthington 33 58
MARSHALL (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Andries 0-2-6-10, Sueker 2-0-2-8, Estrada 0-2-3-7, H.Meier 0-4-3-11, E.Meier 0-2-6-8, Hilgemann 2-2-10-20. Totals 4-12-30-64.
WORTHINGTON (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Diew 0-1-0-2, Othow 4-0-0-12, Huisman 1-2-0-7, Sauerbrei 1-0-7-10, Thuringer 1-7-0-17, Weg 0-2-1-5, Wietzema 0-0-1-1, Rosenberg 0-2-0-4. Totals 7-14-9-58.
