Colfax girls remain winless in D-SC after overtime loss to Boyceville

COLFAX — Boyceville never held a lead during regulation play when it traveled to Colfax for a key Dunn-St. Croix girls’ basketball showdown December 8, yet the Bulldogs trotted back home with their second conference win in as many games following a thrilling 45-42 overtime victory.

The Colfax girls’ basketball team is probably collectively cursing the name of Boyceville’s Madysn Riek after the Vikings’ squad lost last Thursday’s home contest to the Bulldogs in overtime thanks to Riek’s 11th-hour corner shot for three that tied the game at 41 at the end of regulation and force overtime.

The Bulldogs found a way to persevere and win thanks to the collective effort of senior leadership, but left the Viking players and coaches shaking their heads in frustration.

In that extra frame, Boyceville took its first-ever lead when Riek, who tallied 24 points to lead all scorers, bounced a running jump shot off the glass and in with a Colfax defender’s hands in her face that gave the Bulldogs a 43-42 advantage with 40.9 seconds left on the overtime clock.

The Vikings’ sophomore center Emma Hurlburt had an opportunity to tie the contest or give Colfax the lead but she missed both free shots of a double bonus.

Bulldog senior Cassie Malean took the ball and drove hard down court and was fouled going up for the lay-up. Malean nailed both charity tosses for a 45-42 Bulldogs’ lead.

Then, with just under eight seconds to play, yet another Boyceville senior, Brooklyn Hellmann, picked off an errant Colfax pass and dribbled it down court as the final seconds on a 45-42 Bulldogs’ victory expired.

Colfax head coach Joe Doucette has consistently worried about the Vikings’ tough early schedule this season, hoping it would not discourage his players.

“I still think we can be a good team, but we’ve got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves,” Doucette said. “We play pretty hard, but until we rebound the ball better, turn it over less, and get better at the free throw line, it will be tough to win.”

The Vikings, who never led by more than seven points during regulation play and held just a 26-23 advantage at the half, missed 15 foul shots as they connected on just 10 of 25 attempts from the charity stripe.

Conversely, Boyceville hit on nine of its 14 attempts.

Doucette remarked that he hopes the team stays together and improves, because he does see a ray of hope for the Vikings. In every game the team has played, they have led in scoring in the second half.

Colfax had an eight to three advantage in made three-pointers as senior Ally Heidorn led the Vikings with 18 points after sinking two field goals, a team-leading four three-pointers, and two free throws.

Sophomore Savanna Henricks landed a double-digit score after a field goal, two three-pointers, and a pair of free shots.

Guard Alyssa Dachel dropped in a pair of three-pointers and one of her three free throw attempts for seven points, sophomore center Emma Hurlburt was good for a field goal and free throw to take credit for three points, and Taylor Irwin and Hannah Sykora each sunk two free throws to earn two points apiece.

With the loss to Boyceville, the Vikings drop to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in the Dunn-St. Croix with opponents like Mondovi, Durand and Elk Mound still to come.

The Bulldogs, 2-0 and 3-1 overall, are tied with Durand for the top spot in the current conference standings.

The Vikings will be on the road for a pair of games this week. Colfax traveled to Spring Valley to take on the Cardinals last evening, December 13 and head south to take on rival Elk Mound, last season’s D-SC girls basketball champions, this Thursday,  December 15.

BOYCEVILLE 45, COLFAX 42
Boyceville……………………23  18  4 — 45
Colfax……………………….25  15  1 — 42

TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

Boyceville (13-9-16-45) R. Prestrud 0-0-1-3, B. Booth 0-0-1-0, C. Malean 1-3-2-5, M. Kuhn 0-2-2-2, M. Riek 8-4-4-24, E. Harnisch 3-0-3-6, B. Hellmann 1-0-3-5.

Colfax (4-10-15-42) A. Dachel 0-1-1-7, A. Heidorn 2-2-4-18, K. Meredith 0-0-3-0, S. Henricks 1-2-1-10, T. Irwin 0-2-1-2, B. Buchanan 0-0-2-0, H. Sykora 0-2-0-2, E. Hurlburt 1-1-3-3.

THREE-POINTERS B — R. Prestrud 1, M. Riek 1, B. Hellmann 1; C — A. Dachel 2, A. Heidorn 4, S. Henricks 2.