By Jeremy Ratliff
Reporter
Win or lose, the 2015-16 Bluejay girls wouldn’t have wrestled the impending WVC crown away from the 6th ranked (D1) Marshfield Tigers on Friday night, but another upset win would definitely have made for credible conference bragging rights.
The Tigers were undefeated in WVC play coming into the contest on their home court, while the Merrill ladies (6-2) were riding high on a 6-game winning streak including a 47-42 upset over D.C. Everest.
Unfortunately another upset wouldn’t be in the stars for the Jays, as they fell 60-40 to the Tigers.
Marshfield asserted dominance early with a considerable 23-18 lead in the first half and continued to pour on the nasty sauce in the second, out-scoring the Jays 37-22.
“I think we played well overall against a very good basketball team,” coach Ross Reincke said.
“We cut their lead down a couple times from 6 points to two in the first half, and another one from 14 to six in the second. We played very resilient, but we just couldn’t catch them at the end. We knew it was going to be a big game and I hate to sound cliché but it just came down to them making more shots than we did.”
MRL: 18 22-40
MFD: 23 37-60
Morgan Pettit (12p, 5r, 3a); Maddix Bonnell (11p, 3r, 5a); Rylee Folz (10p); Chelsey Lamonica (8p,4r).
The Jays remain in a 6-3 tie with D.C. Everest for 2nd place in the Valley, in the wake of a 66-51 Evergreen fall from grace at Wausau-West Saturday night.