Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall forward Avery Fahl (12) defends a Waseca ballhandler during the first half of a prep girls basketball game at Marshall High School on Friday night.

MARSHALL — The top-ranked Tigers’ prolific press shined through early in the Marshall girls basketball teams’ win over Waseca on Friday night. Marshall hardly allowed Waseca to bring the ball past halfcourt in the game’s opening minutes, scoring each of the game’s first 18 points and never letting its foot off the gas in a 71-19 victory.

As a team, Marshall finished the night with 24 steals and turned the ball over just nine times. Reese Drake, Taleigha Bigler and Avery Schneekloth each accounted for five steals and no individual Tiger turned the ball over more than twice.

“I think it really shows how hard we play or work at practice,” Marshall senior Paige Gillingham said. “We constantly are working on our press, just to make it even a little bit better every day, like coach [Dan] Westby says.”

The Tiger’s two seniors started the team off strong, scoring 12 of the team’s first 14 points. Ali Pederson drained a pair of 3-pointers while Gillingham knocked down a trio of layups, grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds and snagged a steal to spark Marshall early.

“I just think everybody was making good passes and moving the ball well,” Pederson said. “I think that really helped us make good shots.”

The Bluejays immediately hit a layup of their own but Marshall’s momentum would not be halted. Drake answered expeditiously with a layup of her own and a pair of steals from Bigler and Drake set up layups from Gillingham and Bigler.

Drake finished the game as Marshall’s leading scorer with 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting while Bigler and Schneekloth each contributed 11 points on 3 of 5 and 5 of 7 shooting respectively. Gillingham also finished in double figures with 10 points.

Marshall made its first mass substitution leading 26-4, taking out everyone except Bigler. Danielle Nubile and Kyah Pinckney were among the reserves to score as the Tigers continued to expand their lead.

Nubile finished the game with 9 points, converting each of her four field goal attempts and her lone attempt form the free-throw line. She was also one of two Tigers with a block, along with Schneekloth. Maddie Panka and Kezlyn and Kyah Pinckney each also contributed points off the bench.

With under two minutes remaining in the first half, Pederson drove to the basket as the shot clock winded down and hit a high-speed layup to eclipse the 35-point cushion needed to trigger the running clock. Still, it wasn’t until the final nine minutes of the second half that the rule was activated.

Marshall maintained a 46-9 lead at halftime, with 10 points from Gillingham and another 8 from Schneekloth, Pederson and Drake. Bigler also contributed 7 points in the first half.

Even with the lead well in hand, Marshall started the second half looking hungry. Bigler, Drake and Avery Fahl each came away with a steal on the defensive end. On the offensive end, Bigler and Drake each scored 4 points while Schneekloth knocked down a 3 to open on an 11-0 run.

The Tigers built up a 27-14 rebounding advantage in the game, including a 10-7 edge on the offensive glass. Fahl’s five total rebounds were a team-high and her two offensive rebounds tied her with Gillingham and Drake for a team-high.

As the result of the game became increasingly evident, the Tigers had the flexibility to test out their depth. The Tigers substituted out all of their starters after a timeout was called with nine minutes remaining and only substituted in their two seniors briefly as they maintained their lead.

“It’s great watching [the underclassmen] out there. We practice with them every day, so it’s fun watching them from the first game of the season to the last and seeing how far they’ve come and grown,” Gillingham said.

With under a minute remaining, a Waseca and-1 allowed the Bluejays’ point total for the game to eclipse Marshall’s point total from the first five minutes.

Marshall improves to 20-0 on the season with the win, making them the first Tiger team since 2020-21 to eclipse 20 wins before suffering its first loss. The 2020-21 Tigers went undefeated before falling to Becker in the state tournament.

“I think we come into the game with the same mindset every time, work hard and get the reward,” Gillingham said. “I don’t think we really look at the record as a thing that we’re crazy over, I think you come into every game thinking it’s 0-0, we’ve got to do everything we can to win this game and then have that mentality of the next one’s what counts.”

The Tigers will now head to Delano today at 2:45 p.m. to face perhaps their toughest remaining regular-season challenger, No. 5 Orono (17-2). The Spartans’ two losses this season have come against undefeated Class A No. 1 Providence Academy and Class AAAA Chaska.