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Lady Vikings use fourth quarter surge to pull out win over Buffaloes

COLFAX — After a slow start against a team that may have had some vertically challenged (but very athletic) players, the Colfax girls faced their toughest conference competition of the season when they hosted the Mondovi Buffaloes Jan. 8. After falling behind as much as seven points late in the third quarter, the Vikings needed to dig deep before eventually overtaking the Buffaloes and earning a hard fought 50-40 win.

With both teams using full court presses throughout the contest, points were not easy to come by, in the first half at least and the Vikings found themselves down at the break 19-18. It took almost two minutes for either team to score in the third quarter as both teams either committed turnovers or were off the mark with their shots, but Mondovi finally broke through with six straight points for a 25-18 lead. Colfax went to a weave on the offensive end and Hannah Hover found Ryleigh Prochnow under the hoop for a Viking bucket, then scored on a drive herself. After a quick steal on the other end of the court, Mallie Doucette nailed a three pointer but the Buffs responded with a fast break lay up and another shot from the paint for a 30-25 lead. Dannielle Dachel cut the Colfax deficit to two points on a long ball and after yet another basket from close range by Mondovi, Braanna Steen came up with an old fashioned three point play on a bucket and a free toss for Colfax and the quarter ended with Mondovi up 32-31.

That lead didn’t last long however, as the Vikings forced a turnover and Doucette took advantage of it, scoring on a drive through the lane. After Prochnow blocked a shot on the other end, Doucette canned a free toss coming from the Buffaloes seventh team foul for a 34-32 Viking lead. After some more weaving and cutting, Doucette added another deuce from under the hoop and Hover found Steen open again for two points to build the lead to 38-32 with just over four minutes left. The Buffaloes hit a bucket to get closer, but from there on out, it was free throws that spelled the difference as the Vikings made 12 straight  to seal the deal. Doucette started the string of free tosses with two followed by two each from Hover, Steen, Dachel, Taylor Shipman and Prochnow. As a team the Vikings were 19 of 25 from the foul stripe.

“We were very fortunate to win this game,” Colfax coach Joe Doucette said. “Mondovi played us tough and actually outplayed us for a large portion of the game. I kept waiting for us to bust loose all game but we just didn’t look sharp on the offensive end. We dribbled too much and never went anywhere with it. But I was impressed with our effort and we didn’t panic after struggling early on. This was a good game for us because they made us work hard on both ends,” he added.

Doucette led the Vikings with 15 points and Steen added 10 in the win.

COLFAX (50) Doucette 5-3-4-15, Steen 3-4-5-10, Hover 2-2-2-7, Dachel 2-2-2-7, Shipman 1-4-4-7, A. Rudi 0-2-2-2, Prochnow 0-2-6-2

MONDOVI (40) E. Stoughten 6-0-0-14, M. Lund 4-3-5-11, J. Franzwa 3-0-0-7, A. Rud 0-1-2-3, C. Kent 1-0-0-2, O. Weiss 1-0-0-2, S. Kopp 0-1-2-1

THREE POINTERS: Doucette 2, Stoughten 2, Hover 1, Dachel 1, Shipman 1, Franzwa 1, Rud 1