Lady Vikings use strong defense to roll over Ramblers and bruise Blue Devils

The Colfax girls accomplished something last week they haven’t done in a long time–for three years in fact—when they defeated the Eau Claire Regis Ramblers 42-28, on the Ramblers home court no less. They followed that win up by pounding Plum City at home 50-24 Jan. 17.

Regis

Colfax had lost their previous six games to the Ramblers, including three regional games. But a stringent defense held Regis to zippo points in the first quarter by forcing seven turnovers, while they came up with eight points themselves. Hannah Hover started the scoring for the Vikings with a three pointer, followed by another from Dannielle Dachel, and Mallie Doucette added a pair of free throws for the early lead.

Colfax used a patient offense against the Regis zone defense and increased their lead to 14-2 early in the second quarter as Ryleigh Prochnow scored twice and Braanna Steen once, both in the paint against a taller Regis lineup. Prochnow, who was the best player on the floor the whole night according to her coach Joe Doucette, added another shot from close range and after Dachel’s second trey to go with one from Doucette, it appeared the Vikings were in control with a 22-6 halftime lead.

Although this is almost a completely different Rambler team than the one that played in the state tournament the past two years, they have plenty of young talent and are well coached. That was evident as they crept closer to the Vikings by outscoring them 11-5 in the third quarter after going to a man to man defense, then scored the first four points in the fourth, and Colfax saw their lead dwindle to just six points at 27-21. But Prochnow came up big again, this time with a triple, and after a series of turnovers by both teams, Doucette canned her second shot from long range for a 33-23 lead with just over three minutes left. Regis chose to foul at that point and the Colfax girls were cool as cucumbers as four different players combined to go 9 for 10 from the charity stripe to put the game away.

“We really wanted to win this game after losing the last six to them,” coach Doucette said. “We were very good defensively in the first half and because they are big and athletic, we had trouble scoring points against their defense. But we hit some big shots after they missed a couple in the second half to get our momentum back. Everyone played a solid game, especially on the defensive end. I hope we don’t have to play them again,” he added.

Prochnow finished with a season high 13 points to lead the Vikings while Doucette hit her average with 12. The team went 14 for 17 from the free throw line and it was the ninth time this year they have held their opponents to under 30 points.

COLFAX (42) Prochnow 4-4-5-13, Doucette 3-4-4-12, Hover 1-3-4-6, Dachel 2-0-0-6, Steen 1-2-2-4, T. Shipman 0-1-2-1

REGIS (28) C. Tuura 4-2-2-10, A. Giguere 3-0-0-8, H. Gibbons 4-0-0-8, S. Brey 1-0-0-2

Plum City 

Beginning the second trip through conference play, the Vikings had a slow start as Plum City decided keeping the ball out of the Colfax players’ hands was their best option if they wanted to pull off an upset. It worked for the first quarter as the Blue Devils did a lot of passing and actually held a 5-2 lead before Doucette scored from the paint, as did Hover, and Alexis Rudi hit a short shot off an in-bounds pass for an 8-5 Colfax lead which they never relinquished.

Colfax players seemed to score in bunches as Hover came up with six straight points in the second quarter starting with a free throw, then a triple and an end to end drive for a lay up coming off a steal for a 14-7 lead. Doucette went on a four point run as she hit the offensive boards hard and scored on put backs twice, and after another steal by the Vikings, Dachel scored on a layup. Steen and Doucette then took turns assisting each other for buckets and the Vikings held a 24-9 halftime lead.

Colfax used a 12 point scoring run to pull away for good in the third quarter as their defense held the Blue Devils to four points for the second straight quarter. In fact, Plum City didn’t score until the 2:12 mark when Heather Von Holturn hit a pair of free throws but a Hover triple and Taylor Shipman deuce off an in bounds pass made it 41-13 heading into the final quarter.

After Brittany Rothbauer scored on a Shipman assist, Shipman went on her own run, hitting the back end of two free throws twice, then nailed a trey for a 48-21 Colfax lead.  Rothbauer showed off her defensive talents by picking up  a steal, and on Plum City’s next possession, she came up with a big block. Emily Halpin brought the  score to the half century mark on a pull up jumper to end the night.

“Plum City was trying to be extremely patient and wanted to limit our possessions,” coach Doucette said. “We did a good job of not letting them do that. We played hard and defended well which is a key for us.”

Doucette and Hover led the way in the scorebook with 13 points each and the team went 7 for 11 at the free throw line.

COLFAX (50) Doucette 5-2-2-13, Hover 5-1-3-13, Shipman 2-2-4-7, Steen 2-2-2-7, Rudi 1-0-0-2, Prochnow 1-0-0-2, Dachel 1-0-0-2, Rothbauer 1-0-0-2, Halpin 1-0-0-2

PLUM CITY (24) M. Boyer 2-1-2-6, Von Holturn 2-2-2-6, C. Caturia 2-1-1-5, E. Danzinger 2-0-0-4, T. Chilson 1-0-0-2, S. Kannel 0-1-2-1

THREE POINTERS: Hover 2, Doucette 1, Shipman 1, Steen 1, Boyer 1