Elk Mound ends Colfax conference winning streak at 55 games
All good things must end and looking at the rosters from both the Elk Mound and Colfax girls’ basketball teams before the season started, by all accounts if any team was going to break the 55 game conference winning streak the Vikings began back in February of 2012, it was going to be the Mounders.
With two seniors who have played varsity since their freshman year along with several juniors in their third season of varsity play, the Mounders used their experience and tenacious defense to keep the young Vikings away from the basket most of the game and soundly defeated them 53-26 in Colfax Jan. 7. With the win, Elk Mound took over sole possession of first place in the conference at 5-0 while Colfax is 4-1.
Before the big matchup, both teams played a non-conference game Jan. 4 resulting in wins for both teams. The Vikings used nine triples to take a 51-40 win over Owen-Withee while the Mounders went on the road to Loyal and came back with a 58-44 victory.
Colfax-Elk Mound
“We knew we were going to have to rely on our defense to help get our offense going,” Jordan Kongshaug, in his sixth year as the Mounders head coach said after his first victory over Colfax. “Our plan was to pressure them throughout the game and not let them get good looks at the basket because they have so many good shooters. Our girls followed the plan and played a great game.”
Both teams are noted for their full court presses and it showed early on as they both had trouble holding onto the ball. The Mounders finally started the scoring on McKenna McVey’s turn around jumper and her second jump shot from the paint and a free toss from Elizabeth Fasbender made it 5-0. It was almost six minutes into the game before the Vikings broke the ice when Dempsey Fogarty snared a patented full court pass and drove in for a layup, but a pair of Fasbender free throws and her subsequent three pointer upped the Mounder lead to 10-2. The Vikings’ Alyssa Dachel knocked down 2 of 3 free tosses but the Mounders went on a nine point run started by a Kami King trey followed by McVey’s two buckets in the lane and Morgan Radtle showed off some slick moves in the paint and hit for a 19-4 advantage. Emma Hurlburt stopped the bleeding for Colfax with her own short range shot but once again Elk Mound added a string of points with a Radtke deuce, another Fasbender triple and a McVey free toss. Bryana Buchanan connected on a short jumper for Colfax near the end of the half but the Mounders had what appeared to be a comfortable lead at 25-8 at the intermission.
After Allie Weber came up with a steal for the Mounders on the Vikings’ first possession of the second half, McVey scored again from the paint to up their lead. Colfax went on a mini-run when Hurlburt and Heidorn hit shots on consecutive trips down court, but any hopes of extending that run were thwarted when the Mounders scored the next 10 points of the game for a 37-12 advantage. Included in the run were Sarah Winchester’s shot from behind the arc and a layup off a steal from King. Hailey Durand-Christianson halted the streak with a pair of free throws but the Vikings were still struggling to get the ball down to their end of the court. When they did, not many shots found the hoop and the Mounders upped their lead to 45-16 during that time. Heidorn drained a couple of free throws and Fogarty scored on a drive through the lane, but in between, those points were countered by a deuce from Riley Radtke and a pair of freebies by Hannah Cedarblade. Colfax freshman Hannah Sykora, who doesn’t get a lot of varsity playing time, drained the first triple of the contest for Colfax and with the Mounders up 51-23 with just over two minutes to play, coach Kongshaug allowed some of his own bench players to get on the court. Savannah Henricks canned another trey for the Vikings and Crista Sweeney finished off the Mounders’ scoring with a bucket under the hoop.
“I give Elk Mound a ton of credit,” Colfax coach Joe Doucette said. “Jordan and his staff have worked really hard to build their program and they dominated us completely. Physically, we tried hard, but mentally, we are just not ready for a big game like this. We looked rushed and and nervous on offense, did not move the ball well and took some awful shots. Defensively we were okay except for some poor rebounding late in the first half. I thought if we had played with the poise and balance we did against Durand, we could compete with them but we didn’t show any of those qualities tonight,” he added.
Three Mounders scored in double digits including McVey with 16, and Fasbender and King with 11 each and the team was 9 of 19 from the charity stripe The Vikings had four players score four points each and were 6 of 10 from the stripe but they committed 26 turnovers in the contest.
ELK MOUND (53) McVey 7-2-8-16, Fasbender 2-5-6-11, King 5-0-0-11, M. Radtke 3-0-0-6, Winchester 1-0-1-3, Cedarblade 0-2-2-2, R. Radtke 1-0-0-2, Sweeney 1-0-0-2
COLFAX (26) Heidorn 1-2-2-4, Fogarty 2-0-0-4, Buchanan 2-0-1-4,Hurlburt 2-0-2-4, Henricks 1-0-0-3, Sykora 1-0-0-3, Dachel 0-2-3-2, Durand-Christianson 0-2-2-2
THREE POINTERS: Fasbender 2, Winchester 1, King 1, Sykora 1, Henricks 1
Colfax vs. Owen-Withee
With a couple of coaches who had over 1,000 career wins between the two of them, coach Doucette had the upper hand over Blackhawks coach Al Guthman in this one. When Dachel started the contest off with back to back triples followed by another by Buchanan, the 9-0 lead was enough to keep Owen-Withee, the eighth ranked team in Division 5 at bay the rest of the game. Dachel’s third trey started a 14 point run with Fogarty hitting a free throw, Schleusner and Fogarty both draining shots from long range, Henricks scoring from close up and Fogarty swiping the ball on the defensive end and scoring on a layup for a 25-8 Colfax lead. Dachel continued to have the hot hand, drilling her fourth trey and after a Heidorn shot from the paint, the Vikings were up 30-16 at the break.
“We were very aggressive offensively and were attacking the basket,” Doucette said. “Dachel was shooting the ball great and we did a good job finding her.”
Heidorn and Dachel both scored early in the second half to up the lead to 34-18 but the Viking’s offense went stagnant and a well coached team will take advantage of that. The Blackhawks went on an eight point run with help from a pair of treys and the Colfax lead was cut to 34-26 before Heidorn dropped in a free throw and added a layup for a 37-26 lead. The closest Owen-Withee came the rest of the game was seven points as Heidorn and Dachel both drained triples, Fogarty stole the ball away yet again and scored and Henricks closed the contest out with a bucket in the paint and a free toss.
“It is fun to play against a great program with a great coach,” Doucette said. “Coach Guthman is as good as they get and we knew O-W was never going to give up. Their program is one of the best in the state,” he added.
In her ninth game as a varsity player, Dachel had a career high 19 points to lead the Vikings while Heidorn finished with 12. Colfax connected for nine treys and were 6 of 13 at the foul line while the Blackhawks were 2 of 4 from the charity stripe.
COLFAX (51) Dachel 6-2-2-19, Heidorn 5-1-2-12, Fogarty 3-1-3-8, Henricks 2-2-6-6, Schleusner 1-0-0-3, Buchanan 1-0-0-3
OWEN-WITHEE (40) H. Hatlestad 5-0-0-14, W. Baehr 7-0-0-14, J. Wendler 4-1-2-9, E. Arndt 1-0-0-2, H. Goessl 0-1-2-1
THREE POINTERS: Dachel 5, Hatlestad 4, Schleusner 1, Heidorn 1, Fogarty 1, Buchanan 1
Elk Mound vs. Loyal
McVey and Winchester combined for 19 of the Mounders first half points allowing them to hold a 31-17 halftime advantage. Although both teams scored 27 second half points, Elk Mound seemed to be having foul trouble as the Greyhounds hit 12 of 14 free throws while the Mounders were 4 of 8. However, McVey scored three times from the paint, Winchester, King and Morgan Radtke all added a pair of buckets and Fasbender scored from all over on a triple, a deuce and a free throw to help the Mounders maintain their lead and finish with the 14 point win.
“We played with a lot of intensity, especially on the defensive side and did a better job on the defensive boards,” Kongshaug said.
ELK MOUND (58) McVey 7-3-4-17, Winchester 5-1-2-13, Fasbender 4-2-5-11, M. Radtke 2-3-4-7, King 2-1-1-5, Krall 1-1-2-3, Weber 0-2-2-2
LOYAL (44) K. Rueth 6-8-10-21, M. Keinwand 2-4-6-8, D. Schoonover 3-0-0-6, R. Wilke 1-3-4-5, J. Pieper 1-2-3-4
THREE POINTERS: Winchester 2, Fasbender 1, Rueth 1