Colfax girls battered by Bloomer, rebound against Glenwood City
By Cara L. Dempski
COLFAX — If you ask veteran Colfax basketball coach Joe Doucette, word has gotten around that this year’s Lady Vikings are not quite up to their usual caliber.
“Right now, we don’t have anyone who can keep their composure, and go around and make a play for a teammate,” the Viking coach said last Wednesday after the team lost 58-31 at home to Bloomer the previous night. The January 2 game right off solid performances during the holiday break seemed a shaky set-up for the Colfax girls to step back into Dunn-St. Croix action later in the week.
The Lady Vikings hosted Glenwood City January 4, and played a stronger game for a 61-28 win.
With a 4-1 D-SC record and 7-4 record overall, the Vikings turned their attention to Mondovi January 9 at home before heading south to Durand this Friday. The team will have a few days off before hosting Boyceville Thursday, January 18.
Bloomer
Doucette readily shouldered responsibility for his team’s 58-31 loss to the Blackhawks January 2 .
“(It was) really a tough night all the way around,” he started. “We, plain and simply, are not very good in any phase of the game. I have not done a good job of preparing them at all.”
The Colfax coach realizes he has some excellent physical ability in his team, but has not yet pieced it all together. Doucette said that, coupled with the knowledge the team backs down easily and seems bereft of last year’s fight, startles the coaching staff.
The team is not without hope, though, as the Viking helmsman sees some flashes of potential in his young team; he simply wants to find a way to bring that out in the players.
“Until I do a better job, and as a group we show some championship qualities, it will be tough to beat good teams,” he said.
Bloomer seemed to dominate the entire game, but sophomore Rachel Scharlau brightened things a bit for the Lady Vikings. She led the Colfax ladies with 12 points, and Doucette said she seemed to improve as the game continued. He will keep an eye on Scharlau, as he believes she has a chance to be very good down the road.
Junior Savannah Henricks reeled in seven points in the game, Kameri Meredith scored four, Emma Hurlburt picked up three, Jayna Bowe and Alyssa Dachel each scored two, and Josie Steinke went one for three from the line.
Bloomer’s Sierra Raine took top scoring honors after logging 14 points in the game.
BLOOMER 58, COLFAX 31
Bloomer……………………………34 24 — 58
Colfax………………………………10 21 — 31
TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)
Bloomer (20-12-20-58) — C. Swartz 1-1-1-3, S. Raine 5-4-4-14, S. Zwiefelhofer 0-2-1-2, J. Burgess 4-1-1-11, E. Kramschuster 2-0-2-6, S. Kostner 2-0-4-4, R. Luzinski 1-2-2-5, E. Seibel 1-0-1-3, I. Jenneman 4-2-4-10.
Colfax (10-12-15-31) — A. Dachel 0-2-1-2, M. Schleusner 0-0-2-0, J. Bowe 0-2-0-2, K. Meredith 1-2-2-4, S. Henricks 3-0-5-7, J. Steinke 0-1-1-1, R. Scharlau 4-4-1-12, E. Hurlburt 1-1-2-3.
THREE-POINTERS
Glenwood City
Sometimes, a win is all it takes for a coach to breathe a little easier.
At least, that is how it seemed January 4 when Colfax took on Glenwood City, and came away with a 61-28 win. Coach Doucette said after the game he was happy to get the W, despite his misgivings after the Bloomer game earlier in the week.
“I liked our energy,” he began. “I thought we just wanted to try hard, try to work together, and show some good qualities. I thought we did that, and I think we can do that against good teams.”
The Vikings’ coach said he sees some good things in practice that he thinks would work in tough competition, but knows his team will need to clear that hurdle on its own.
Colfax opened the matchup with a 10-point run courtesy of Savannah Henricks, Kameri Meredith and Emma Hurlburt before Hilltopper senior Mariah Voeltz could put two on the board for GC on her second trip to the line.
The Lady Vikings broke back into a double-digit lead again a few minutes later when Meredith was awarded a pair of charity throws, lifting the score to 12-2 with 11:34 still to go in the opening half. The teams would continue the back and forth play until Colfax took off on a short run to earn an 11-point lead, and then went on another run to lead 29-9 as both teams broke for intermission.
Glenwood City was much more aggressive defensively coming out of the break, but were relegated to scoring mostly from the free-throw line, and could not seem to stop the Colfax girls.
While the Toppers nabbed 19 points in the final 18 minutes, the Vikings tacked up another 32 for the win.
Meredith led the game with 18 points, while Hurlburt picked up 13. Sophomore Rachel Scharlau had another solid performance, adding 11 points, Savannah Henricks chalked up 10, Josie Steinke was good for seven, and Saville Wilson contributed two from off the bench.
Voeltz led the Lady Toppers with 12 points.
GLENWOOD CITY 28, COLFAX 61
Glenwood City………..………9 19 — 28
Colfax………………………….29 32 — 61
TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)
Glenwood City (6-16-9-28) — J. Klinger 0-2-2-2, M. Voeltz 2-8-1-12, M. O’Brien 1-2-0-4, H. Strehlo 3-1-1-7, A. Curvello 0-1-1-1, M. Wallin 0-0-1-0, O. Scalze 0-2-0-2, D. Fayerweather 0-0-1-0, E. Hill 0-0-2-0.
Colfax (24-11-16-61) — A. Dachel 0-0-3-0, K. Meredith 7-3-3-18, S. Henricks 4-2-1-10, J. Steinke 2-2-1-7, Addy Olson 0-0-3-0, S. Wilson 1-0-1-2, M. Harmon 0-0-1-0, R. Scharlau 4-3-0-11, E. Hurlburt 6-1-2-13, Addisyn Olson 0-0-1-0.
THREE-POINTERS
C — K. Meredith 1, J. Steinke 1.