Viking girls sail away with 56-52 win over Panthers

By Cara L. Dempski

HAMMOND — The Colfax girls basketball team had a rough start to its November 22 game at St. Croix Central when the Panthers ran up a double-digit lead early in the first half. It is a testament to the Vikings’ optimism, talent, and teamwork that they came out of the contest with their first W of the year.

“It was a really nice win,” coach Joe Doucette stated. “We showed a lot of good qualities to hang in there after a tough start against a very good team.”

St. Croix Central’s team is large and athletic, and ran the score up to 12-0 early in the game before the Vikings found a way to work around the Panthers’ size in the second half and rack up the points to grab a 56-52 win.

The Panthers split their 52 points evenly with 26 scored in each half, while the Vikings went into the locker room at halftime with only 19 points. The Colfax squad came back out for the second 18 minutes of play and recorded 37 points to eventually win the game.

Doucette said there were a lot of girls on the team who contributed to the win, but things were dicey even in the game’s second half. Ten Viking players hit the court at various times during the match-up, and the Colfax coach said his team’s depth was a key factor in the second-half rally in Hammond.

“We would get close, but they always would hold us off. We finally got the lead and hung on,” Doucette stated.

The Colfax coach said Savannah Henricks, Kameri Meredith, Emma Hurlburt and Taylor Irwin all provided key baskets in the second half. He also credits the team’s full-court defense, aggressive inside shooting, and rebounding with the success in the second half of the game.

Sophomore Savannah Henricks led the Vikings with 15 points, but fouled out of the game in the second half. Freshman Kameri Meredith, who Doucette said is off to a good start due to her work ethic and excellent teamwork, logged 10 points and scraped by with only three fouls.

Emma Hurlburt sank four two-point shots and was perfect on free throws to take nine points, and incurred two fouls. Senior Ally Heidorn took credit for eighth of Colfax’s points scored and had recorded three fouls. Taylor Irwin sank a field goal, a three-pointer and a free throw to log six points without committing any fouls.

Sophomore Alyssa Dachel escaped the match-up with the Panthers with only one foul, after fouling out of the team’s November 18 game against Hayward. She logged four points for the Vikings against St. Croix Central. Morgan Schleusner and Hannah Sykora each grabbed two points, and Schleusner recorded only one foul over 36 minutes.

St. Croix Central’s Mia Krogseng led the Panthers with 23 points, but fouled out of the game. Panther McKenna Johnson also committed five fouls and sat out the rest of the game.

Doucette said it still early in the season and there is a tough conference schedule ahead, but he likes what he is seeing from the Viking girls so far.

“Ally (Heidorn) and Bryana (Buchanan) have provided leadership to our younger kids to not give up and keep playing,” Doucette said of the two seniors on his team. “We have been hurt by some stretches where we have trouble scoring, but hopefully some hard work can help that.”

The Vikings will travek to Bloomer on November 29 to face the Blackhawks, before they head to Durand on December 2 for their first conference match-up this season.

COLFAX 56, ST. CROIX CENTRAL 52
Colfax 19   37 — 56
St. Croix Central 26   26 — 52

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

Colfax (20-10-15-56) A. Dachel 1-2-1-4, M. Schleusner 1-0-1-2. A. Heidorn 3-1-3-8, K. Meredith 3-3-3-10, S. Henricks 5-2-5-15, T. Irwin 2-1-0-6, H. Sykora 1-0-0-2, E. Hurlburt 4-1-2-9.

St. Croix Central (19-8-17-52) K. Cress 3-0-3-8, C. Moll 1-0-0-2, M. Johnson 2-2-5-6, K. Holter 2-0-0-6, A. Edelman 1-1-0-3, M. Krogseng 8-3-5-23, C. Frankiewicz 2-0-0-4.

THREE-POINTERS C — A. Heidorn 1, K. Meredith 1, S. Henricks 3, T. Irwin 1; SCC — K. Cress 2, K. Holter 2, M. Krogseng 4.7