Columbus Catholic turns up pressure to knock off Tigerton in WIAA Division 5 girls basketball regional quarterfinal

By Paul Lecker
For OnFocus

MARSHFIELD – The Marshfield Columbus Catholic girls basketball team didn’t play its best game of the season, but the Dons did enough to pull out a win in its playoff opener.

The Dons forced 28 turnovers, mostly off of full court pressure, and had two big scoring runs to beat Tigerton 67-49 in a WIAA Division 5 regional quarterfinal on Tuesday night at Columbus Catholic High School.

Columbus Catholic (13-9) moves on to a Division 5 regional semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday at Rosholt. The No. 4 seed Rosholt (15-5) beat No. 13 Wisconsin Valley Lutheran 66-38 on Tuesday. The winner moves on to a regional final on Saturday night.

The Dons started the game on a 7-0 run, forcing turnovers on Tigerton’s first six possessions, but the Tigers proved they weren’t going away easily.

Raven Dewhurst hit the first of her six 3-pointers to end an 8-2 run for Tigerton and get them back in the game.

Columbus earned its first double-digit lead with a 9-0 run later in the first half. Addison Baierl, Annika Brown and Meghan Kibbel scored, and Maren Seefluth drilled a 3-pointer to put the Dons up 30-18 with 1:43 to go before halftime.

The Dons took a 30-21 lead into halftime, but saw their lead dwindle in the early minutes of the second half.

Tigerton closed to within four on another 3-pointer by Dewhurst. Following a three-point play by Seefluth, who had a team-high 16 points for the Dons, Ladia Block and Monika Minniecheske scored for the Tigers, cutting the deficit to 37-34.

Hailey Roehl, who largely struggled from the outside, hit a pair of 3-pointers, the latter of which started a 14-0 run to put Columbus in control for good.

Tigerton went nearly seven minutes without scoring as the Dons surged to a 56-37 lead after two baskets by Brown and another from Seefluth.

Columbus led by as much as 23 before settling for the 18-point win.

Addie Baierl added 14 points and six rebounds, Brown had 13 points and five rebounds, and Roehl added 11 points for the Dons. Emmalee Jicinsky had a team-high eight rebounds in the win.

Dewhurst led Tigerton (9-13) with 19 points, and Minniecheske had 12 points and 13 rebounds in the loss.

Dons 67, Tigers 49
Tigerton 21 28 – 49
Columbus Catholic 30 37 – 67
TIGERTON (49): Raven Dewhurst 6-15 1-2 19, Ladia Block 1-6 0-0 2, Monika Minniecheske 6-23 0-1 12, Adrienne Brady 0-0 0-0 0, Colleen Smith 3-6 0-0 6, Savannah Swartz 2-6 2-2 6, Jaidan Miller 2-6 0-0 4. FG: 20-62. FT: 3-5. 3-pointers: 6-18 (Dewhurst 6-11, Swartz 0-1, Minniecheske 0-3, Block 0-3). Rebounds: 45 (Minniecheske 13, Miller 10). Turnovers: 28. Fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 9-13.
COLUMBUS CATHOLIC (67): Annika Brown 6-10 1-2 13, Kelsey Moore 0-1 0-2 0, Hailey Roehl 4-19 0-0 11, Maren Seefluth 5-11 5-7 16, Emmalee Jicinsky 1-4 2-4 4, Meghan Kibbel 2-6 2-4 6, Addie Baierl 6-12 2-4 14, Holly Dean 0-0 0-0 0, Erynn Meece 0-0 0-0 0, Katie Hall 1-4 1-2 3. FG: 25-67. FT: 13-25. 3-pointers: 4-21 (Roehl 3-15, Seefluth 1-5, Kibbel 0-1). Rebounds: 36 (Jicinsky 8). Turnovers: 12. Fouls: 11. Fouled out: none. Record: 13-9.