The visiting Marshall Tigers girls defeated the Hill-Murray Pioneers with relative ease on Saturday afternoon 79-56 in a perennial matchup of Class AAA powers. It was the 17th meeting of the 2 teams since 2007. Marshall’s win was their 3rd straight and gives them a 9-8 lead in the series. It is the 1st time that Marshall has ever led the series after Hill-Murray won the 1st 4 matchups way back in 2007 through 2011. The game also matched up 2 great girls basketball coaches. Hill-Murray’s Erin Herman has something like 550 career wins and 2 state runnersup in 2010 and 2011. Marshall’s Dan Westby has more than 300 career wins in girls basketball with state runnersup in 2014, 2015 and 2021, plus more than 700 wins and 8 state championships in girls volleyball.
The host Pioneers’ last lead came as 6-1 Mya Wilson, rated by Prep Hoops as the state’s #1 sophomore, made a 3 and a steal-and-2 to make it 7-6. Marshall’s Taleigha Bigler and Avery Schneekloth each scored twice to make it 15-9, then Paige Gillingham scored twice to make it 19-9, and finally Reese Drake scored to make it 21-9. Marshall led by those 12 points at halftime, 36-24, despite shooting 1-of-12 on 3-pointers. But Marshall had a shocking 14 offensive rebounds in the 1st half worth 8 2nd chance points while Hill-Murray had none and none. Hill-Murray also had 12 turnovers and Marshall 8 points off turnovers, while Marshall had 5 turnovers good for just 2 Hill-Murray points. So Marshall’s “special teams” outscored the Pioneers 16-2. Hill-Murray was actually winning the initial offense 22-20. Mya Wilson had 15 1st half points, Schneekloth 10. Just for the record, the box score on the Hub shows Marshall’s #20, Oakley Schneekloth, with 16 points. But, no, that was #24, Avery Schneekloth, who scored the 16 points. Her younger sister scored zero.
The 2nd half was a little more wide open. After winning the 1st half 36-24, Marshall also won the 2nd 43-32. Marshall shot 36 percent in the 1st half, 47 in the 2nd. Hill-Murray shot 41 and 39. Marshall made just 3-of-17 3s, Hill-Murray 7-of-21. The big difference between the halves was that the Pioneers cut their turnovers in half, from 12 to 6. But 4 of them came on their 1st 5 possessions of the 2nd half as they fell behind 44-26. After 17 turnovers in 19-and-a-half minutes, the Pioneers had just 2 over the final 16:30. Of course, many of those came against Marshall’s full-court, trapping man defense, which coach Westby eventually called off. Still, Hill-Murray got within 16 twice but no closer.
Marshall also dominated the boards with 45 rebounds to Hill-Murray’s 27. One thing Hill-Murray excelled at, however, was blocked shots. The Pioneers had 8 blocks, 3 of them by Mya Wilson, Marshall none.
Marshall point guard Taleigha Bigler, a 5-9 junior and daughter of Southwest State men’s coach Brad Bigler, wasn’t the highest scorer but she was easily the best player on the floor. “She’s a real gym rat,” coach Westby told me, and according to Bigler’s X account, she has committed to Southwest State. (Her dad is the men’s coach. The women’s coach is Tom Webb.) The contrast with the more highly regarded Mya Wilson was interesting. Bigler brought ball up the floor, well, not slowly, but at a measured pace, and she initiated her team’s offense. Everybody touched the ball. But sharing the ball didn’t prevent Bigler from finishing with 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting, including 2-of-7 3s and 5-of-8 FT, with 11 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 turnovers. Wilson brought the ball up court at a racehorse pace and often took a shot without a teammate getting a touch. She outscored Bigler 29-26 on a solid 11-of-20 shooting, 3-of-6 3s and 4-of-6 FT, with 7 rebounds, 2 assists, a steal and 3 blocks, but had 8 turnovers. There’t not much to criticize on either stat line, but Bigler is my MVP because she got to the FT line more, had more rebounds, more assists and more steals, and fewer turnovers. Oh, yeah, and her team won 79-56.
Hill-Murray is noted for its youth, starting 2 seniors, 2 sophomores and a 7th grader, while its next 2 players are also sophomores. But Marshall is young, too, with 2 seniors, 2 juniors and a sophomore starting, and a sophomore and 2 juniors 1st off the bench. Marshall’s 3 best are the juniors Bigler and Reese Drake, her running mate at guard who scored 21 points with 12 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 turnovers. Marshall 2 guards, standing 5-8 and 5-9, had 11 offensive rebounds between them. And, then, Avery Schneekloth, the sophomore (and not her sister Oakley, a freshman). She scored 16 points on 8-of-13 FG with 8 rebounds.
Late in the game, with 2:40 remaining to be precise, and Marshall leading 74-56. Bigler was being defended aggressively at the top of the key by Hill-Murray’s 5-11 7th grade phenom, Ashlee Wilson, Mya’s younger sister. And, good for her. But, you could see that with a safe lead, Bigler got it into her head that she was going to get to the rim against the boisterous youngster. She faked and feinted her way toward the lane several times, finally found an opening, and did indeed get to the rim, score the FG and draw the foul. I would describe her as a small 5-9, but she is one smart cookie and as feisty as needs be. She is rated a respectable #26 by Prep Hoops, but I can’t help but think that’s not high enough. I might argue that she is as good as maybe #10 on that list.
Hill-Murray’s 2nd best player is indeed Ashlee Wilson. She scored 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 3-of-8 3s, but she never got to the FT line and she had no assists or steals. Still, she’s a wonderful athlete. Her sister Mya is an outstanding shooter, while Ashlee is probably more athletic. Which will be better by the time all is said and done is anybody’s guess. Both will be high D1 recruits. Meanwhile, Marshall’s best players might be D2. The individual skills are not so ostentatious as those of the Wilson girls, though Bigler and Drake are both very, very good. You can ask Alexandria coach Wendy Kohler, who was shocked when her #2AAA team opened its season at Marshall with an unexpected 75-70 loss. But, along with that, Marshall is right now a much more experienced and integrated and coordinated team than Hill-Murray, and very deserving of its #2 ranking right at the moment.