Lady Hilltoppers slain by Vikings at home
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SPLITTING THE DEFENSE — The Toppers’ senior post player Makiah Schutz drove between a pair of Colfax defenders to score two points late in Glenwood City’s home loss to the Vikings last Friday, January 31. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
By Missy Klatt
Sports Correspondent
GLENWOOD CITY — The Hilltoppers girls’ basketball team was no match for the experienced, bench-filled Vikings of Colfax. The Toppers fell to the conference-leading Vikings on Friday night, January 31st in front of a home crowd, 37-74.
As the game got underway, Colfax put a full-court press on Glenwood City which it kept up for the entire first half and about half of the second. The Toppers actually handled the press very well in the beginning but as the game progressed you could see that it took its toll in wearing down the Toppers. Without much depth on the bench, the Lady Tops were fatigued by the end of the game.
As for offense, the score actually remained fairly close for a good portion of the first half.
The teams were tied early on at three and five. The Toppers then found themselves down by two at 9-11 and 10-12 about half way through the first half. It was here that the Vikings started to pull ahead by capitalizing on missed shots and turnovers from the Toppers.
Glenwood City continued to battle but Colfax outscored the Toppers two-to-one over the rest of the first half, taking a 35-22 lead into the locker room.
The Lady Toppers started the second half with a turnover and that theme continued as the Vikings were relentless with their full-court press and played a very tight defense.
Again capitalizing on Topper turnovers, the Vikings went on a 14-2 run at the start of the second half to take a 49-24 lead.
The Vikings then added seven more points to the Toppers’ three before they took off the full-court press following a timeout at the 10:41 mark.
Over the next two and a half minutes,Colfax outscored Glenwood City 8-4, again taking advantage of the Toppers’ turnovers. A minute and a half later, it was two more points for the Vikings from the free throw line as Delanie Fayerweather committed her fifth personal foul and exited the contest.
The next few minutes of the game were devoid of points as both teams missed shots, the Vikings because they had all subs in and the Toppers because they were just plain exhausted. The Vikings had fifteen players seeing time on the court compared to only nine Toppers.
Makiah Schutz broke the drought for Glenwood City when she went two-for-two from the free throw line with three minutes left to play. The Vikings countered with two free throws of their own. Schutz was then back on the line where she sank two more. The Vikings came back with one from outside the arc. It was then Schutz hit again for two under the basket. And again the Vikings countered with a three pointer.
After a Topper turnover the Vikings just passed the ball around to run out the clock for the last minute of the game.
Colfax outscored Glenwood City 15-39 in the second half.
Despite their loss, head coach Dean Fayerweather thought that it was the best that they have played all season, in the first half that is.
Fatigue and no depth on his bench are the main reasons he gave for the poor showing in the second half.
Fayerweather credited Maddie Oehlke for playing well again for the Toppers. She finished with 11 points on the night behind Makiah Schutz who tallied 15.
The Lady Toppers are currently 3-11 overall and 1-8 in conference play. The defending conference champion Vikings boast a 10-0 conference record and 14-2 overall and are ranked fifth in the latest Division 4 state poll.
The Toppers played another state-ranked foe, Clear Lake, on Monday, February 3rd and will be at Elk Mound on Thursday the 6th for a conference game against the Mounders. They will remain on the road for a D-SC contest in Mondovi on Saturday, February 8 before returning home next Tuesday, February 11 to host Elmwood/Plum City.
Glenwood City (37)
FG-FT-F-T: Rassbach 0-0-1-0, Oehlke 4-2-4-11, Ullom 0-0-1-0, Thompson 1-0-1-2, Mendez 0-2-1-2, K. Schutz 0-0-0-0, Fayerweather 1-5-5-7, M. Schutz 5-5-3-15, Buttles 0-0-0-0. Total 11-14-16-37.
Colfax (74)
FG-Ft-F-T: T. Irwin 2-0-0-6, Schleusner 1-0-3-2, Bowe 0-1-0-1, Meredith 4-3-1-11, Harmon 2-0-0-6, Steinke 2-0-0-6, Barstad 4-1-2-9, Addy Olson 1-0-2-3, Wilson 1-2-0-5, Best 0-2-1-2, Addisyn Olson 1-4-1-6, Scharlau 5-7-2-16, Bradford 0-0-0-0, A. Irwin 0-0-0-0, Paulus 0-1-0-1. Total 23-20-12-74.
Glenwood City 22 15 – 37
Colfax 35 39 – 74
3-point goals: Glenwood City: Oehlke. Colfax: T. Irwin 2, Harmon 2, Addy Olson, Wilson.