Colfax girls ramble over Raiders, pound Panthers to clinch share of conference title

The Colfax girls remain undefeated in conference play after rolling over the Elmwood Raiders 62-24 in Elmwood Feb. 5 and did the same thing three days later at home with a 42-15 win over the St. Croix Central Panthers.  Colfax is 13-0 in conference play with three games left, while Mondovi, the only team that is still in contention for a conference title is 10-3 with just two conference games left on their slate. (The teams faced each other Feb. 11). It is the seventh title in the past eight seasons for the Vikings.

Elmwood

After holding the Raiders to just 15 points in their first meeting of the year back in December, the Vikings let up a bit this time around but still managed to hold their opponent to single digit scoring in every quarter. Meanwhile their offense was in high gear as they connected for ten three pointers in the game including three each by Mallie Doucette and Hannah Hover.

Colfax held a 15-4 lead after a quarter of play as Doucette picked up eight of those points on two treys with a deuce in between, Alexis Rudi added a long range shot and Braanna Steen scored once from the foul line and once from three point land. They tripled the Panthers scoring by halftime, leading 36-13 as Hover had all of her nine points of the game with her three treys in the second quarter.

The Vikings came up big at the free throw line in the third stanza, scoring seven of their 11 points from there to go with two Doucette buckets for a 47-22 lead, and Doucette, Jess Moonen and Chey Olson all added a shot from behind the arc in the final quarter to help finish off  the lop-sided win.

“I was impressed with our energy,” Colfax coach Joe Doucette said. “We missed a lot of easy shots early but we were flying around and making a lot of things happen. We shot the three pointers better then we shot inside against an improved Elmwood team. We had a lot of nice passes to set up a lot of our shots.”

11 Vikings scored in the contest as Doucette led the way with 17 points while Steen finished with 10. The team was 14 for 22 at the charity stripe and the Raiders were 10 for 18.

COLFAX (62) Doucette 7-0-0-17, Steen 3-3-4-10, Hover 3-0-0-9, Olson 1-3-4-6, Rudi 1-1-2-4, R. Prochnow 0-4-7-4, Moonen 1-0-0-3, T. Shipman 1-1-2-3, D. Dachel 1-0-0-2, M. Harmon 1-0-0-2, B. Rothbauer 0-2-3-2

ELMWOOD (24) A. Pax 2-3-8-8, M. Brunner 1-2-4-5, J. VandenBerge 1-2-2-4, L. Fredrickson 0-3-4-3, K. Lee 1-0-0-2, H. Webb 1-0-0-2

THREE POINTERS: Doucette 3, Hover 3, Rudi 1, Moonen 1, Olson 1, Steen 1, Brunner 1, Pax 1

St. Croix Central

It was only fitting that on Parents/Senior night the Viking’s starting lineup was composed of five seniors. Although Hannah Hover and Ryleigh Prochnow have been starters all year, top reserves McKayla Harmon and  Brittany Rothbauer along with an injured Kenna Breckner started the game around the center circle. Breckner was a real trooper, playing with a torn knee ligament which will require surgery in the near future.

The Colfax defense came pretty close to shutting the Panthers out in the first half, allowing them to score just two points in each of the quarters—all from the free throw line. Meanwhile they were pouring in 29 points themselves with Prochnow leading the way with 12, Doucette added seven while Harmon, Steen, Hover, Dannielle Dachel and Taylor Shipman all came up with two points each.

Central went on a four point run to start the second half but four straight free throws by Steen and a triple from both Hover and Doucette put the Vikings up 39-8 to start the final quarter. Colfax went to their weaving offense and took a lot of time off the clock while looking for a good shot the rest of the game. Rothbauer knocked down a free toss and Prochnow scored on a layup for the only points before coach Doucette cleared the bench, allowing several players to get some varsity experience.

“Central defended hard and they are very physical,” coach Doucette said. “We did not shoot the ball well but we did a lot of other good things. We only had six turnovers and we moved the ball pretty well. We accomplished our first goal of defending our conference title but we feel like we can still improve. I like our depth and we are pretty healthy and are looking forward to finishing the conference season strong. This is a great group of athletes and they have done a lot for our program.”

Prochnow finished with 14 points for Colfax and Doucette added 10.

COLFAX (42) 6-1-3-14, Doucette 4-0-0-10. Steen 1-4-4-6, Hover 1-2-2-5, Dachel 1-0-0-2, Shipman 1-0-0-2, Harmon 1-0-0-2, Rothbauer 0-1-2-1

ST. CROIX CENTRAL (15) T. Refsnider 1-3-4-5, L. DeSmith 0-2-2-2, J. Klinger 1-0-0-2, B. Kopacz 1-0-0-2, K. Harrington 1-0-0-2, L. Moll 0-1-2-1, E. Landry 0-1-3-1

THREE POINTERS: Doucette 2, Hover 1, Prochnow 1