Colfax girls finish 1-1 at AAU Classic

UW-STOUT — It was a tale of two completely different games when the Colfax girls played in the 19th Annual Chris Griffin Memorial AAU Holiday Classic held at UW-Stout Dec. 27-28. In the first game against Minneapolis North, the Vikings pummeled the young, undermanned Polars 72-14, then up against a highly ranked DeLaSalle team, (also from the Minneapolis area), the Vikings went down in defeat 58-33, giving them their first loss of the season.

Minneapolis North

It was apparent from the get go the Vikings wouldn’t have a problem with the Polars as they took an 11-0 lead in the first two minutes with Hannah Hover nailing a pair of triples along with a deuce from Ryleigh Prochnow and a long ball by Mallie Doucette. In fact, the Vikings were up 23-0 before North’s Kiear Hunter hit a couple of free throws at the 2:03 mark of the quarter and Colfax led 27-2 at the end of the quarter.

The Vikings didn’t bother to use their press at all and they still managed to hold the Polars to two points in the second and third quarters, then gave up eight in the final eight minutes of play. Eight different Vikings canned three pointers in the game and 11 players scored. Braanna Steen came up with all nine of her points in the third quarter while Chey Olson and Katlin Sauerwein each added five in the fourth.

“North is a young team and we were hoping to be tested but we weren’t,” coach Joe Doucette said. “We handled the ball well and had under 10 turnovers in the game. We also had a lot of players get some playing time.”

Mallie Doucette led the Vikings with 12 points while Prochnow added 10.

Colfax (72) Doucette 4-2-2-12, Prochnow 5-0-0-10, Hover 3-0-0-9, Steen 4-0-0-9, D. Dachel 3-0-0-7, A. Rudi 2-0-0-5, Olson 2-1-2-5, T. Shipman 2-0-0-5, Sauerwein 2-0-2-5, E. Halpin 1-0-0-3, M. Harmon 1-0-2-2

Mpls North (14) Hunter 3-4-4-10, A. Wells 1-0-0-2, M. Thomas 1-0-0-2

Three Pointers: Hover 3, Doucette 2, Rudi 1, Dachel 1, Shipman 1, Steen 1, Halpin 1, Sauerwein 1

De La Salle

The Islanders are the defending state champions in their division and are ranked fourth in the state in all divisions. They certainly showed they are in a different class as they displayed quick hands and feet along with a good eye from long range as they contested just about every shot the Vikings attempted and hit eight three pointers while scoring plenty of points from under the hoop throughout the game. For the first time all season, Colfax did not connect on any three pointers, and although Mallie Doucette scored 15 points to lead the Vikings, she was forced to dribble, spin and fight her way to the basket on every shot.

Colfax was down 18-10 after the first quarter with Doucette picking up six of those points while Prochnow added the other four, and they were behind 27-15 at the half. They fought their way back to a seven point deficit midway through the third quarter, down 31-24 on three free throws by Taylor Shipman, a bucket from Hannah Hover and two free tosses and a dribble-drive jumper by Doucette. They couldn’t get over the hump however, and they finished off the quarter down 37-26.

The game got out of hand rather quickly in the final quarter as the Islanders showed why they have a couple of players heading to Division I colleges next year. They built their lead to 20 points at 53-33 with just under two minutes left and although they were in foul trouble, they still held the Vikings to just seven points, five on free throws and ended the big win with their final three pointer.

DeLaSalle (58) total points: L. Starr 21, T. Johnson 12, P. Griffin 11, C. Thomas 6, J. Jones 3, H. Sellers 3, T. Toney 2

Colfax (33) Doucette 6-3-4-15, Prochnow 3-0-0-6, Shipman 0-6-8-6, Rudi 2-0-0-4, Hover 1-0-2-2

Three Pointers: Griffin 3, Johnson 2, Starr 1, Jones 1, Sellers 1