Marshall Girls Take First Over Woodson

Anna Steg picked a great time to turn in her career-best performance for the Marshall High girls basketball team.

Last Friday’s game between the top two teams in the Liberty District lived up to its billing, with George C. Marshall High School and W.T. Woodson battling down to the wire to decide first place in the district. On the strength of a career-high 28 points from Steg, the Statesmen edged Woodson 51-49 to remain unbeaten in the district and improve Marshall’s record to 12-3 overall.

“That was an exciting game,” Marshall Head Coach Noel Klippenstein said. “The kids are definitely aware that we are doing the best job since coach Conroy’s team in 1983.”

That 1983 team went on to win the Liberty District.

With such a talented district, Klippenstein has stressed the importance of finishing as the top seed for the district tournament and they positioned themselves well for that with Friday’s victory.

Woodson got out to a strong start and looked like it could pull away from Marshall, utilizing crisp passing to score several easy baskets early on. But the Statesmen tightened up defensively behind strong efforts from Nicole Harrison and Caryl Spoden who limited Woodson’s star guard Ashley McCulloch to just five assists, and just two after the first quarter.

Down in the post was where the final difference was made however. With Woodson ahead with only 50 seconds left, Steg stepped up her efforts, trading baskets with Woodson and finally pulling down a defensive rebound and was then fouled on the offensive end. Steg drained both of the foul shots to seal the win for Marshall.

Her 28-point effort eclipsed her earlier career best performances of 24 and 27 points during the team’s holiday tournament in Florida. “Anna did a terrific job,” Klippenstein said. “She emerged as the big player she can be. She’s very nice and unselfish. She can probably be a little selfish more of the time.”

With first place in hand, Marshall faced its first challenge when they faced a physical Langley Saxon squad Tuesday night. After fighting so hard for first, Marshall showed little inclination of yielding it, dismantling their opponent 57-40. Amanda Brown led the way with 22 points, five assists and seven steals. Steg and Kaitlyn Johnson played well in the low post, with Steg posting 14 points and nine rebounds. Johnson and Harrison contributed six points each.

“It was pretty close at the beginning, but we stretched it out a little bit after each quarter,” Klippenstein said. “They had a bigger presence in the post, but we cut off their point guard again and that helped.”

The Statesmen next face McLean on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Marshall defeated McLean earlier this season 67-13.

Mike Hume may be emailed at mhume@fcnp.com