Girls Basketball 2025: Timely defense, key offense spur Marshall into Class AAA championship
Posted: Thursday, March 13, 2025 - 5:07 PM
When No. 3-seeded Marshall and No. 7 Cretin-Derham Hall hooked up in a Class AAA semifinal duel on Thursday, March 13, it was the kind of game where every possession meant something important.
Back-and-forth they went trying to solve the other’s scrappy defense and finding ways to score key baskets. The scoreboard illustrated very little separation between the two teams the entire game.
With just more than four minutes remaining in regulation time, Cretin-Derham Hall, fresh off an upset of No. 2 Monticello in Wednesday’s quarterfinals, held a two-point advantage and was playing with its sights on a championship game berth opposite Benilde-St. Margaret’s on Saturday afternoon.
It didn’t play out that way.
Instead, Marshall decided to crank up the defensive intensity. Those key stops paved the way for timely offense down the stretch in what would be a 57-48 victory at Williams Arena.
The Tigers (29-1) used a 14-5 run over the game’s final minutes to pull away en route to earning a championship game berth for the first time since 2021. Since winning consecutive championships in 2001 and 2002, Marshall has four runner-up finishes.
Junior guard Taleigha Bigler scored 11 of her 30 points during the late surge. She had 19 points in the second half and also finished with 11 rebounds. Junior guard Reese Drake had 17 points and five assists.
After a 26-all deadlock at the half, Cretin-Derham Hall (21-10) showed signs of surging in the early moments of the second half, but the Raiders couldn’t build on modest leads that were no more than two points. There were 10 lead changes in the game and 10 times the score was tied.
Eighth-grade guard Madeleine Hamiel scored 11 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for the Raiders. Senior forward Emma Dornan added nine points and six rebounds.
Cretin-Derham Hall, which was seeking its first championship berth since 1999 when it won the Class AAAA crown, will face Alexandria in the third place game at the Gangelhoff Center on the Concordia (St. Paul) campus on Saturday.
