Photo by Sam Thiel Marshall’s Randi Wendorff puts up a jumper during their game against Harrisburg (S.D.) on Monday. Marshall defeated Harrisburg 44-38.

MARSHALL — With its offense on a roll, the Marshall girls basketball team knew things weren’t going to come easy against Harrisburg (S.D.), who entered the game as the fifth-best team in Class AA in its state. The matchup instantly turned into a defensive showdown, with the score tied at halftime 19-19, but Marshall would use a late push on offense before keeping Harrisburg at bay in the final minutes to earn a 44-38 victory on Monday.

Marshall coach Dan Westby said both teams played extremely physical and they know this was a critical matchup for them early on in the season.

“It was a hard-fought game and a physical team we played. That’s a tough matchup, Emilee Boyer for them is a very good inside player and just a difficult matchup for anybody,” Westby said. “It was a hard-fought win and we feel fortunate to come out with a win and it’s good for us to play teams that play that style of basketball because down the road that’s the kind of play we’re going to see at tournament time, so it’s good for us to see that in the regular season.”

Harrisburg got out to a quick start, going up 4-0 before a pair of 3-pointers by Lexie Bednarek tied things up at 6-6 with 13:05 left in the first half. Marshall continued to find its range from beyond the arc early, as Randi Wendorff and Bednarek connected on triples to give MHS a 12-8 lead with 11:20 left, but Harrisburg answered with a 10-0 run, hitting a 3-pointer of its own to take an 18-12 lead with 6:08 left in the frame.

Marshall kept battling, though, getting a layup by Bri Simpson – MHS’s first two-pointer of the game – to draw the deficit to four at 18-14 with 5:20 left before a 3-pointer by Ashleigh Steinbach made it a one-point game at 18-17 with 4:10 left. After some back and forth play, a jumper by Abby Panka would tie things up at 19 going into halftime.

The second half saw both teams struggle to find offense to start, with no scoring until Simpson got a pair of free throws to give Marshall a 21-19 lead. The two sides then traded points over the next few minutes, but Marshall maintained its advantage, as a layup by Wendorff and a 3-pointer by Simpson gave MHS a 31-27 lead with 10:35 left.

Harrisburg had an answer, though, using an 8-2 run to take a 35-33 lead with five minutes left. But Marshall wouldn’t go down without a fight, as Leah Jones got a layup to tie things up at 35-35 before a jumper by Wendorff and a trio of free throws by Bednarek pushed the advantage to 40-35 with 1:40 left. After Steinbach connected on a pair of free throws with a minute left, Harrisburg drilled a 3-pointer to draw to within four at 42-38 with 24.9 seconds left. But that was the closest Harrisburg got, as Simpson made a pair of free throws to push it to 44-38 to close the scoring.

Bednarek led Marshall with 14 points while Simpson added 12 and Steinbach and Wendorff each had seven. Steinbach led in rebounds with eight while Simpson led in steals with two. As a team, Marshall shot just 28% (13 of 47) from the field, including 6 of 20 (30%) from 3-point range, but made 12 of its 15 free-throw attempts.

Defensively, MHS held Harrisburg to 36% shooting (16 of 45), including just 3 of 17 (18%) from 3-point range and forced two turnovers. Westby said their ability to apply strong on-ball defense and pressure throughout the game was key, especially down the final stretch.

“We made the comment before the game that we really felt like we needed to play good on-ball defense so that we didn’t have to rely on so much help from teammates,” Westby said. “I thought the longer the game went on, the better our on-ball defense was; our pressure all the way through burned some time, they took some time getting the ball up the floor and that worked in our favor as well.”

Up next

Marshall (6-1) will face Windom Area on the road today at 6 p.m.

Marshall 44, Harrisburg (S.D.) 38

Harrisburg 19 19 – 38

Marshall 19 25 – 44

Scoring: Marshall (Bednarek 3-5, 5-5 14; Simpson 3-14, 5-5 12; Steinbach 2-8, 2-2 7; Wendorff 3-7, 0-2 7; Jones 1-4, 0-0 2; Panka 1-4, 0-0 2).

Rebounds: Marshall 24 (Steinbach 8; Simpson, Jones 5).

Assists: Marshall 12 (Steinbach 4; Estrada, Bednarek, Simpson 2).

Steals: Marshall 3 (Simpson 2; Steinbach 1).