Duluth Marshall Girls Basketball Returns All Players Heading Into New Season

The Hilltoppers are led by their top two scorers in Chloe Johnson and Regan Juenemann.

DULUTH, Minn.- Not many teams can say they return their whole roster from a year ago.

But, the Duluth Marshall girls basketball team can as they are coming off a section 7AA semifinal appearance a year ago.

Even more of an added bonus for the team this year. A large number of their roster has more than just this year to go.

That includes their top two scorers in Chloe Johnson and Regan Juenemann.

Head Coach C.J. Osuchukwu, who’s entering his 6th year coaching the team, says with some girls playing since 7th and 8th grade on varsity, they’ve seen a lot and that will only help them more.

“I don’t think anything can really phase us now. We’ve kind of seen everything. This summer, we had a really good summer. We went to the state invite only breakdown thing for our class and we won it. So we were able to play some of the better teams in the state. We’re feeling comfortable where we’re at right now,” said Osuchukwu.

Osuchukwu also mentioned the team’s shooting, which they were 43 percent last year, and their defense as strengths for the team.

He also mentioned players like Ada Skafte, who he sees taking a bigger step this winter.

“That team chemistry stays. We all know each other. We’re all friends and those bonds have stayed in place this year. So I feel like it makes us a lot more confident on the court,” added Skafte.

“When we go out and play basketball, our age doesn’t mean anything. It’s like your skill and how well you play as a team. We don’t really think of our age while we play and we’re younger so it even helps more because we’ll get to play longer. All of these teams are seniors and juniors now and we’re still freshman and sophomores. So we still have a long time to get our goal and go to state and all of that,” mentioned sophomore guard Mariah Lucero.

Duluth Marshall is 1-1 so far this season.