By Amanda Perkins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Marshfield Lady Jays ended their journey on the road to state Saturday against the Helias Catholic Lady Crusaders in the Class 5 quarterfinal round with a 43-32 loss.
“It’s not a good day to have a bad shooting day,” said head coach Trish Marsh. “I give it to Helias, they came out, we knew they were going to play a zone and we knew we had to hit shots. Nothing really fell for us. I felt like we played maybe a little on our heels, and the environment here was really good, and we got down early and could never really get it back. I credit Helias for their game plan, and I felt like we had a good one coming in too, but we felt just a little bit intimidated from this. Hopefully we will learn from it and move on.”
Helias went on a 7-0 run to open the first frame, but freshman Izzy Cherne put Marshfield on the board with a deep shot for three. Sophomore Peyton Ward followed it with a layup, and classmate Kendyl Dolan added a jumper. Junior Tilly Greenfield put up a point from the charity stripe, and the Jays brought the game within one, 9-8. Helias scored the final three points in the quarter for Marshfield to trail by four.
In the second, Helias widened the gap with an unanswered 6-point run. Ward broke the scoring drought with a bucket, but the Jays would send the Crusaders to the free throw line four times in the quarter. Cherne scored underneath just before the half ended, 22-12.
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Marshfield scored back-to-back buckets to open the third, then Dolan nailed a three. Ward contributed from the charity stripe, and the Jays outscored Helias 10-6 in the quarter.
Trailing by six to enter the fourth, Marshfield struggled to hit shots until Ward drained another from downtown, her first of two in the frame. But Helias answered with their own and added enough points down the stretch from the free throw line to minimize the Jays’ efforts. Quinn Aldridge added four from the charity stripe.
The Jays will lose two seniors.
“Laina Wipf went down early in the year with an MCL sprain, and so she didn’t get to really suit up much,” said Coach Marsh. “Allie Tackett has just been a tremendous role model for our program. She is one of those practice players that has made everybody else better that gets to play on game nights, and she has really accepted that role. It has been really nice to have two seniors that provide that leadership off the floor.”
The Lady Jays end their season with a 24-6 record.
Scoring: Ward, 12; Dolan, 6; Aldridge, 6; Cherne, 5; Greenfield, 3.
