By ERIKA PICKLES
Niles Daily Star

The Niles girls’ basketball team picked up its fourth win in a row Tuesday evening, grabbing a 61-41 Big 16 Conference non-divisional victory over visiting Marshall.

The Lady Vikes (8-3) struggled defensively in the first half, especially against Redhawk post player Katie Slaght, who stands 6-0.

But a second half spark, which included strong offensive play from Nichole Sly, Jenna Grannell and Maureen Craig, allowed the Vikings to walk away with ease.

“Marshall’s post players gave us a real challenge in the first,” Niles head coach Patrick Touhey said. “We got into trouble on defense. We weren’t boxing out, they were getting easy shots underneath and they stayed with us for a while.”

Niles carried a 22-12 lead after the first period and entered halftime ahead 35-25. With just over one minute to play in the second period, the Redhawks only trailed by five points.

Touhey credited Sly, who ended the night with a game-high 24 points, for her offensive play in the second half.

“They did a good job of controlling her in the first half, but they couldn’t stay with her for the full 32 minutes,” Touhey said.

He added that Craig’s 3-point shooting is something that’s very dominant for the Viking offense. Craig ended the night with four 3-pointers and 14 points. Touhey also said Grannell’s post play performance was key in allowing the Vikes to go out of reach in both the third and fourth periods. Niles held a 45-33 lead heading into the fourth.

“We had three girls play well for us tonight, but overall, everyone on the team did a great job. We hit our perimeter shots when we needed to, got some good looks inside and our defense was much better in the second half and overall I’m very happy with the way we played,” Touhey said.

Slaght had 24 points for the Redhawks and Lauren Mengel contributed 10.
Sly also added 13 rebounds and six assists for the Vikings.

Niles will return to its home court on Friday when it faces Portage Northern for Homecoming night.

“We’ve got a tough battle ahead of us. Northern’s record doesn’t say anything about what kind of team they are. They beat Marshall last week and they’ve really improved just over the past month, so it’s going to be a tough game,” Touhey added.

Tip off is set for 5:45 p.m.

NILES 61
Savannah Wolnik 2 1-6 5, Starr Ford 0 0-0 0, Alexis McIntee 2 1 0-2 7, Brittney Buti 0 0-0 0, Gabby Ezell 1 1-2 3, Maureen Craig 1 4 0-0 14, Nichole Sly 8 2 2-2 24, Whitney Ellis 0 0-0 0, Taylor Glick 0 0-0 0, Jenna Grannell 4 0-0 8, Kelsey Cargo 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18 7 4-12 61
MARSHALL 41
Lauren Mengel 0 2 4-4 10, Carly Weck 1 1-3 3, Emily Peters 0 0-0 0, Katie Slaght 11 2-4 24, Katie Holland 1 2-3 2, Laura VanDyke 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 13 2 9-14 41

Marshall 12 25 33 41
Niles 22 35 45 61
3-point goals: Marshall 2 (Mengel), Niles 7 (Craig 4, Sly 2, McIntee). Total fouls: Marshall 13, Niles 16. Fouled out: Sly (N). Varsty records: Marshall 1-10, Niles 8-3. J.V. score: Marshall 53, Niles 18. Freshmen score: Marshall 30, Niles 15