Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall forward Paige Gillingham attempts a 3-pointer during the second half of a prep girls basketball game against Redwood Valley in Marshall on Friday night.

MARSHALL — From the opening tip-off, the top-ranked Marshall girls basketball team was on fire when it hosted Redwood Valley on Friday night. The Tigers opened the game on a 21-0 run end never let the Cardinals get back in the game as they cruised to an 64-24 victory. 

“This group’s been really good. They’ve come to practice every day and they’re always trying to find ways to get better, so that’s been really fun to watch this group come together,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said after the win. “Hopefully we can keep it going. We’ve got a tough stretch of games coming up here, so we’ve got to continue to come into the gym with the same mindset.”

Avery Scheekloth scored the game’s first points with a step-through layup and Taleigha Bigler followed up with a 3-pointer.  Reese Drake caught fire from there.

Drake came up with a steal, kicked it out to Taleigha Bigler, and got it back for a layup. She then got another and knocked down a 3-pointer to make the score 12-0 in favor of the Tigers through the game’s first three minutes.

Throughout the game, Marshall was consistently getting a variety of players opportunities on the offensive end. Schneekloth and Paige Gillingham led the team with 16 points each on the day, Schneekloth shooting 7 of 11 and Gillingham 6 of 8 with four 3-pointers, while Reese Drake added another 15 points.

Drake’s six assists were also second on the team to Bigler’s seven. Bigler finished with one turnover while Drake finished with six.

After a Schneekloth basket, Redwood Valley had the opportunity to get on the scoreboard with a pair of free throws. Yet, the Cardinals missed both and the Tigers took advantage with a 3 from Bigler, an Avery Fahl midrange jumper and a Kyah Pinckney leaner to bring the score to 21-0.

The Cardinals’ drought ended seven minutes into the game with a pair of free throws. Gillingham scored off a feed from Bigler and Schneekloth knocked down a 3-pointer to extend Marshall’s lead to 24 points, but then it was the Cardinals’ turn to go on a run.

Redwood Valley scored 10 unanswered points to trim Marshall’s lead down to 14, 26-12. Yet, Marshall quickly snapped back into form and closed the half on a 9-1 run of their own to head into the locker room with a 35-13 advantage. 

Marshall ended the game with a 34-19 rebounding advantage. Drake led the way with 11 boards to secure a double-double while Kezlyn Pinckney contributed another six. Drake and Pinckney each grabbed three offensive boards to lead Marshall to a 12-9 edge on the offensive glass.

The Cardinals hit a 3-pointer to start the second half, but once again Marshall responded with a 15-0 run. Back-to-back 3s from Gillingham and another from Schneekloth closed out the run with Marshall leading 50-16 before Redwood Valley stole a Marshall pass in the backcourt for an easy layup.

“I think they’re really a committed group defensively. Anytime you’ve got a team like that, you can hang around,” Westby said of his team’s ability to put together long scoring runs. “It’s been fun to watch, as well as the pride they’ve taken in their defense, but offensively, it was a number of kids tonight. We had five kids in double figures on Tuesday [against St. Peter] and tonight everybody kind of took their turn and down the road, that makes us tough to defend.”

Marshall finished the night with nine players scoring points.

Drake and Gillingham answered Redwood’s bucket with another pair of 3-pointers to bring the lead up to 56-18 with 12 minutes to play, bringing in the possibility of running clock as a possibility at the 9-minute mark. Another Gillingham layup increased the lead to 40 when the Tigers brought in their reserves.

“Those kids have done a great job in practice of giving us the looks that we need, and they certainly did a good job in the game here tonight when they got their opportunity,” Westby said of the Marshall bench.

Marshall led by as many as 42 points in the final 10 minutes. Even once Marshall took out its starters, the Cardinals were never able to gain an inch.

Marshall won the turnover battle 17-25 in the game. Bigler led the team with four steals while Drake added another three. Schneekloth also had a steal and a block.

With the win, Marshall remains undefeated at 14-0 on the season. The Tigers will next compete in a trio of Big South Conference matches next week, going on the road to face Mankato West (5-8) on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. before hosting New Ulm (7-4) and Fairmont (7-3) on Thursday and Saturday.