By Robert Whitmire

The SPASH girls basketball team dropped a 56-55 heart-breaker to Marshfield at the SPASH Fieldhouise Tuesday night.

The Panthers drop to 4-3 in the Wisconsin Valley conference with the loss. Marshfield improved it conference record to 5-1.

The Tigers took the early lead at 6-0 four minutes into the game. SPASH found its way back and took a 13-12 lead at the 7:14 mark of the period and went into the halftime break trailing 24-22.

Trailing 43-34 at the 11:00 mark of the second half, SPASH went on to outscore the Tigers 21-13 to close the gap to just one point with seconds showing on the clock.

Freshman Leah Earnest stepped to the charity stripe for two shots to win the game but was unable to convert allowing the Tigers to escape with the one-point win.

“We played really well against a very good team and battled back in the second half,” said Panther coach Derek Kirklewski. “We didn’t have quite enough to win it in the end.”

SPASH was led in scoring by Rachel Sullivan who dropped in 15 points. Halle Gregorich added 12 and Madisyn Rogan 10 points.

The junior varsity dropped a 37-36 decision to the Tigers. Rachel Lummis led the Panther attack with 12 points.

SPASH Scoring:

Varsity: Rachel Sullivan 15; Halle Gregorich 12; Madisyn Rogan 10; Leah Earnest 8; Abby Gemza 4; Halle Pavelski 4; Kaylin Kostuchowski 2.
JV: Rachel Lummis 12; Kaylee Hintz 8; Jolece Pecore 7; Izabelle Eppinger 5; Hailey Carlson 4.

The Panthers return to action Tuesday, Jan. 31 when they travel to Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln for a 6 PM contest.

Next home action is Friday, Feb. 3 when they play host to Merrill. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 PM at the SPASH Fieldhouse.