Marshall wins league crown on a special night

MARSHALL - The Marshall girls basketball team secured an outright Interstate Eight Conference championship with a 50-29 win over Jackson Northwest on Friday night - but that was almost secondary to what happened inside a packed gymnasium.

During the game, players from both teams wore lavender shoe laces in a show of solidarity for sophomore guard Maddie Reynolds, who was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Before the boys tipped off, the girls basketball team presented a $5,000 check to the family of the late Kari Jolink - a former Marshall coach and teacher who lost a battle with cancer in February of 2016 - with the funds going to the Kari-On Memorial Scholarship Fund. The second annual 'Game for Kari' also honored Julie Tobias, a Marshall teacher who has breast cancer.

"It is a special place," head coach Sal Konkle said of the Marshall community. "(Maddie) has been through a lot. The kids love her like a sister and we were really really happy she could be here tonight, and she wanted to be here too... It was hard for me to concentrate, and I was worried it would be hard for the kids. But they obviously wanted this and they listened to what we said and did what we needed to do and they definitely got the job done. It was a tremendous night."

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Tobias said she had mixed emotions about the night, as the Marshall community celebrated the life of her former friend and colleague while also offering its support to her and Reynolds.

"This is a hard thing - Kari was my teaching partner and (Maddie) is my student and I'm affected by this too, so it's been kind of tough," Tobias said. "This is just fantastic how much they've been able to raise... When I was first  diagnosed, the community all came together and has been so incredibly supportive. Now we have a young student and you'll see this community completely support her and her family in any way."

Joel Jolink said he was touched by the gesture to have a game in honor of his late wife, although he was not surprised.

"Everything that the community has done for us in the last year in the fact that they're still recognizing Kari's accomplishments on the court, off the court and in the community, has just been unbelievable to our family," Jolink said. "Our heart goes out to Maddie Reynolds and Julie Tobias. We've been through it all. We know that this the community is going to step up - they did tonight raising all this money. We're here to support everybody and it's great to be in a small town with that kind of commitment."

The Class B sixth-ranked Redhawks improved to 16-2 with the victory, and kept their conference winning streak alive as Marshall has never dropped an Interstate Eight contest.

Nikki Tucker led Marshall with 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals; Jill Konkle had 12 points and three steals;Natalie Tucker had nine points, 12 rebounds and four assists and Carlee Long dished out four assists.

Nick Buckley can be reached at nbuckley@battlecreekenquirer.com or 269-966-0652. Follow him on Twitter:@NickJBuckley