ABOVE: Fairmont's Ellie Ortega spins into a layup attempt during the second half of a prep girls basketball game against Marshall at Marshall High School on Saturday afternoon. Photo by Jake McNeill/Marshall Independent.

MARSHALL — In a game that started as a slow defensive battle, the top-ranked Marshall girls basketball team found a way to generate offense halfway through the first half of its game against Fairmont on Saturday. From there, the Cardinals had no answer for the Tigers, who went on to claim a 59-40 victory.

“We just stood around too much early on in that game and turned it over too much,” Marshall head coach Dan Westby said. “Everything was hard for us to start that game. We settled down a bit, as you mentioned, and went on a nice run there, but overall I think they outscored us in the second half… We almost looked like we weren’t ready to play, and we’ve got to do a better job. I mean, [Fairmont] has been on the rise lately and we just didn’t deal with it very well.”

Buckets were hard to come by early on in Saturday’s game Both teams went scoreless for the game’s first two minutes until Gwyneth Schultz got Fairmont on the board with a second-chance basket.

Yet, Marshall got on the scoreboard after another pair of scoreless minutes, when Taleigha Bigler rebounded a miss and kicked it out to Avery Schneekloth for 3. Marshall retained the edge on the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.

“I thought our shifts on defense were strong and we knew where we needed to be,” Fairmont head coach Sara Junkermeier said of her team’s early defensive success. “The help side got in and caused a little bit of frustration on their part.”

The Cardinals stayed within arm’s length of the Tigers until after a pair of free throws from Makayla Lowry cut Marshall’s lead to 10-7 with 11 minutes to play. The Tigers went on a run from there, scoring 15 unanswered points and bringing their lead to more than 20 points.

Paige Gillingham ignited the Tiger run with an and-1 layup and Reese Drake followed with a pair of baskets of her own, the latter of which Gillingham set up by stealing an inbound pass. Another Schneekloth layup and a pair of 3-pointers from Drake wrapped up Marshall’s run with a 25-7 lead with seven minutes remaining.

Drake finished the night with a game-high 26 points on 9 of 19 shooting with six 3s. Avery Schneekloth also scored 15 points on 6 of 13 shooting while Paige Gillingham added another 10 points. While she didn’t get many minutes on the varsity roster last season, Schneekloth has been a dependable scoring option for the Tigers this year.

“[Schneekloth] has gotten better at going to the basket and finishing. We need her, no question about it,” Westby said. “Paige as well, we need her to score for us. Both of those kids have improved a lot, so we need to continue to look to those two as options for us offensively.

Drake also tied Bigler with a game-high six assists, each also turning it over four times.

Brylee Miller put Fairmont back on the scoreboard with a third-chance layup and then hit a 3-pointer on her next trip down the court. Yet, it was too little, too late as Marshall continued to pile on for a 35-13 halftime lead.

Miller tied Kennedy Becker as Fairmont’s leading scorer in the game, recording 12 points each. Miller shot 5 of 12 from the field while Becker shot 4 of 8. Miller’s three assists wer also a team-high.

Even when the Tigers couldn’t get shots to fall early, their defense allowed them to remain in charge. Before the start of their offensive run, Schneekloth forced a tie-up and Gillingham got a steal in the backcourt, though neither turned into points.

It wasn’t until Bigler got a steal and turned it into a layup that the Tiger offense started clicking, and Drake hit a 3-pointer on the next possession to make it an 8-2 game in favor of the Tigers.

Marshall’s defense continued to look strong in the second half as the Tigers held the Cardinals scoreless for the first five minutes. During that span, Drake hit a 3-pointer and Schneekloth and Avery Fahl each hit a 2, while Gillingham fronted the defense with a drawn charge and a steal.

The Tigers finished the night with 20 turnovers to Fairmont’s 20. Bigler and Gillingham each tallied four steals for the Tigers.

Fairmont outscored Marshall 27-24 in the second half, but was never able to make a significant dent into the deficit.

Trailing 40-15, Miller briefly sparked some momentum for the Cardinals by knocking down a 3 and hitting a transition layup to make the score 42-20. Yet, Drake answered with a 3 to surpass the 20-point mark as an individual on the night and keep Marshall’s lead at 25 points.

Marshall finished the night with a 28-23 rebounding advantage, including a 15-5 edge on the offensive glass. Drake’s four offensive boards were a game-high and her six total rebounds tied Gillingham for a team-high. Miller led Fairmont with six total rebounds and two offensive rebounds.

Marshall remains undefeated at a perfect 17-0 with the win. The Tigers will aim to capture their 18th victory when they host Worthington (1-14) on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. The Tigers beat the Trojans 79-35 in the teams’ first meeting of the season on Dec. 13.

“In some ways, maybe having a game like this is good for us because it certainly showed us some things we need to get better at,” Westby said.

Fairmont, now 10-4 on the season, will next go on the road for a matchup against Belle Plaine (7-8) on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.

“I saw a lot of things that were growth opportunities today, and those are things we can continue to work on down the road,” Junkermeier said, citing specifically her team’s passing and ability to box out.