Photos by Samantha Davis. Marshall's Taleigha Bigler drives toward the basket and goes up for a layup in the first half against Cretin-Derham Hall Thursday afternoon in the Class 3A state semifinals. The Tigers are headed to the state championship with a 57-48 win behind Bigler's 30 points and 11 rebounds. Below: The Marshall bench stands up and cheers after the Tigers forced a turnover on defense in the second half.

MINNEAPOLIS — The No. 3 Marshall girls basketball team is advancing to the state championship game to compete for the Class AAA title after taking down No. 7 Cretin-Derham Hall 57-48 Thursday afternoon in the semifinals at Williams Arena behind Taleigha Bigler’s 30-point, 11-rebound double-double performance, also scoring her 1,000th career point. The Tigers last played on the state championship stage in 2021, and it will be the program’s seventh appearance.

“I’ve just been so proud of this team all year long. They look at the schedule and say, ‘OK, who’s next and what do we have to do?’ And they just go out and do it,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “It’s been really fun to watch … I thought their team [CDH] showed a lot of grit, and thought our team did as well.”

Both Marshall and CDH had their share of shooting struggles throughout the night, but the two applied tough defensive pressure, and it wasn’t until the final minutes when the Tigers were able to break away at the free throw line.

Tied at 45 with the game winding down after Bigler sank a pair of free throws, Reese Drake went in for a layup after driving the lane and Bigler grabbed a steal on the defensive end for a layup of her own to give Marshall a 49-45 lead with 2:30 left.

Bigler went up for another layup after running a play and Drake notched a steal, to which she got fouled on the fast break. She hit one of her free throws to give Marshall a 52-46 edge with just over a minute left, electrifying the crowd and bench.

The Tigers’ defense came up big when it was needed most, as they forced a five-second rule on CDH’s inbound play, and fouled Bigler while in bonus to put her at the line. Bigler made both shots for 54-46 lead with a minute to go, and was put at the stripe twice more with seconds coming to a close.

Bigler finished the day going 13 for 15 at the free throw line, along with four steals, as she made one more for the final 57-48 score.

“We were consumed by the game itself, but she [Bigler] needed 24 points for 1,000, and she went over that,” Westby said. “That was a good deal for her. That wasn’t our focus certainly, but always happy when the kids get those milestones.”

Along with Bigler, Drake followed with 17 points and a game-high six steals and five assists.

“You have to give Cretin a lot of credit. Every time we’d make a shot, they would come back with a big shot, whether it was a 3 or they started getting the ball inside to 30 [Emma Dornan] a bit there, and that was problematic,” Westby said. “Our kids really battled hard for rebounds and kept balls alive and had some big free throws down the stretch.”

Although Marshall was outrebounded 44-39 and only had three blocks, all of which came from Avery Schneeklotch, to CDH’s eight blocks, the Tigers made it count with their 17 steals for 21 points off turnovers and 18 fast break points. The Raiders had just five steals, 12 turnover points and four from fast breaks.

“We take a lot of pride in our defense. A lot of our practice is defense, defense, defense,” Paige Gillingham said. “Everything starts with really good defense. I think as a team, we all know that, and we all execute really well.”

Overall, Marshall shot 32% from the field and 71% from the charity stripe to CDH’s 32-67% clips.

“Our team [chemistry] really helps. Cretin, they were very good, that was a really fun game to play,” Avery Fahl said. “But, we all play as a team and that really helps us play our best game. We are all united.”

Entering the second half tied at 26, Marshall came out hot on defense with four steals in the first three minutes with two from Drake and one each from Fahl and Bigler, resulting in six points off turnovers with a pair of layups from Bigler and one from Drake to help give Marshall a 36-31 edge.

But, CDH responded with a tip-in from an offensive board, a 3-pointer from Anna Brui and a layup from Madeleine Hamiel to tie the game back up at 38.

Hamiel finished with 11 points and 15 rebounds for CDH.

Marshall and the Raiders from tip-off went back-and-forth, both controlling different areas of the court. Marshall’s largest struggle after the first half was getting around the Raiders’ protection in the paint, who had six blocks to the Tigers’ two.

“When we play our defense, especially our pressure, it creates offense. That was a little bit of a challenge tonight,” Westby said. “I thought Cretin really handled our pressure well … That’s part of our game we lean on, and when we didn’t have that tonight. We had to generate offense in other ways.”

Marshall shot 26% after the half and had one 3-pointer, to CDH’s 35% and four 3’s. The Raiders controlled the glass with 20 defensive boards to Marshall’s 12.

Yet, the Tigers had got their hands where they could and had 10 steals which translated to 12 extra fast break points and forced 12 turnovers, to CDH’s single steal and just four forced turnovers on Marshall.

“They [Marshall] have some very skilled guards … They hit big shots,” CDH head coach Tara Gunderson said. “Our goal in the second half was trying to make them do something different. To their credit, they still found a way to get to the basket and get free throws. Our fight was there, but they’re a skilled team and they played very well today.”

CDH and Marshall went on scoring droughts throughout the first 18 minutes, which saw six instances of a tied score itself. The game ended with 10 tied and 10 lead changes.

Westby credited his team’s resiliency to the success they’ve reached this year.

“Every team is different, and we have some new kids out there this season. Our home opener and first game of the year was Alexandria … Twice in the game we were down 9, and our kids came charging back and we ended up with a 5-point win,” Westby said. “That was really a telling sign of what this team is able to do. They’ve shown a lot of grit from the first night out.”

Reciprocated, the players express the same feelings toward the Marshall coaching staff.

“Our coach [Westby] is the best person I know,” Fahl said. “He’s made me the person I am today.”

Gillingham echoed Fahl in giving credit to the coaches, as Westby became emotional and hugged her and Fahl.

“He’s [Westby] constantly pushing us. He’s the reason we want to fight so hard for our team,” Gillingham said. “We are very blessed, and I’m so glad to have the coaches that we have.”

The Tigers last played in the state championship game in 2021, and fell to Becker 70-58.

“We are very, very excited. We’ve got one more game left, we got to give it our all,” Fahl said.

Marshall will be looking to win its first state title since 2002, when it finished 29-0 on the season and defeated Minneapolis North Community 61-46. It also won state the year prior in 2001 over North Branch, 56-39.

“It doesn’t get any easier, playing Benilde. They’ve got everything, so it’s going to be a challenge,” Westby said. “We’re excited about having that time [Friday] off to get our legs back a little bit.”

Marshall, now 29-1, will take on top-seeded Benilde-St. Margaret at Williams Arena with a 2 p.m. tip-off on Saturday for the crown.