Photo by Travis Rosenau Marshall’s Avery Fahl (12) smiles as she helps teammate Reese Drake (2) up after Drake scores on a layup while drawing a foul in the second half of Saturday evening’s Section 2AAA Girls Basketball Tournament semifinals game against Mankato West at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter.

ST. PETER — Marshall wasted no time asserting its dominance in Saturday’s 2AAA section semifinal matchup against Mankato West at Gustavus Adolphus College. The top-seeded Tigers pulled away for a 36-point lead by halftime and wrapped up the victory over the fourth-seeded Scarlets for an 89-39 win.

Marshall led 57-21 at halftime, giving them as many points in the game’s first 18 minutes as Mankato West had in its 57-44 quarterfinal win over Mankato East on Feb. 26.

Taleigha Bigler led Marshall’s scoring efforts with a game-high 25 points on nine of 15 shooting. Her three 3-pointers tied Avery Fahl for a game-high as Marshall shot 10 of 16 from 3-point range to Mankato West’s 5 of 19.

Bigler also headed Marshall’s rebounding effort. Her eight total rebounds were a team-high and her two offensive boards tied Reese Drake for a team-high, as Marshall outrebounded Mankato West 34-19 overall and 9-4 on the offensive glass.

Drake and Danielle Nubile each grabbed six total rebounds for Marshall. Drake also dished out a game-high nine assists with a pair of turnovers while Bigler added another six with one turnover.

In addition to Bigler, four other Tigers finished scoring in double figures. Paige Gillingham shot 7 of 9 from the field for 16 points, Avery Schneekloth tallied another 12 points and Drake and Fahl added 11 each.

Defensively, Drake led the team with five steals and a block while Schneekloth recorded a pair of blocks and a steal. Bigler also had three blocks in the game.

Marshall improves its record to 26-1 on the season as it sits pretty as the No. 2 team in Class A. The Tigers will now turn their attention to No. 2 New Ulm for Wednesday’s section championship game, slated for 7 p.m. at Gustavus Adolphus College. The Eagles defeated No. 3 St. Peter by 1 point in the section semifinals, 65-64. 

In the two meetings between Marshall and New Ulm this year, the Tigers defeated New Ulm 83-79 in New Ulm on Dec. 3 and 80-53 in Marshall on Jan. 16.