Colfax girls win streak broken with loss to Durand
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by Marlys Kruger
Sport Correspondent
DURAND — All good things must end and in the case of the Colfax girls’ basketball team, it was a 15-game winning streak as well as their first loss in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play.
After defeating the Durand Panthers at home by seven points in December, it was a different story the second time around as the Panthers used a strong second half to pull away and earn a 57-46 win over the Vikings in Durand Friday, January 28.
Both teams now have one loss in conference play along with Elk Mound. The Vikings begin this week with a 15-2 record and 8-1 in the conference.
It was a pretty physical game which is quite common when these two teams face off and it resulted in the Vikings attempting 23 free throws while the Panthers had 28 attempts in the contest. Defense was also a key for both teams as they used full-court pressing defenses at various times which caused turnovers on both sides.
McKenna Shipman got the ball rolling for Colfax with a triple and Jillian Bowe was fouled after swiping the ball and hit a couple of free tosses. Bowe then scored on a put back and Jasmine Best scored in the lane for a 9-5 Colfax lead. But, the Vikings had a ball handling lapse as they turned it over five times and had an offensive foul called, allowing the Panthers to go up 14-9.
A couple of shots from close range didn’t find the bottom of the net for the Vikings and Durand took advantage and upped their lead to 19-10. Emilee Burcham-Scofield started a short rally for Colfax with a deuce and Madison Barstad and Shipman scored to get them closer, down 19-16.
The Vikings’ offense stalled again however, as they came up empty on five straight possessions. A pair of turnovers off the Panther press, two missed shots in the paint and a blocked shot kept them scoreless until Bowe knocked down a free throw. Luckily for the Vikings, Durand wasn’t doing so hot offensively themselves after they were off the mark on four long range shots. Shipman finally scored from close range and the Vikings were down just 21-19 at the intermission.
It appeared Colfax’s coach, Courtney Sarauer, made some adjustments during the break as Barstad scored just a few seconds into the half. When Shipman hit a bucket off an in-bounds pass to put Colfax up 23-21, fans were hoping this was the start of a Colfax streak. But, the Panther’s leading scorer, Madisyn Kilboten drained a triple to regain the lead and there were several lead changes in the next few minutes.
Barstad dropped in two free tosses but Durand hit one to knot it at 25-25. Shipman knocked down two more freebies but that was countered by a triple by the Panthers for a one-point advantage. After four more empty possessions by the Vikings, Barstad finally put them back up with a shot underneath but that didn’t last long after Durand hit two shots from long range for a 33-29 lead.
Burcham-Scofield canned a free throw as did Shipman, and after a Barstad triple, the Vikings were down 35-34.
The Panthers began pulling away after another long ball and with 4:30 left in the contest, both teams went into the bonus. A lot of time was spent at the foul line the rest of the way with Durand going nine times and canning 12-of-18 shots, allowing them to pull away.
Best drained a three pointer to get Colfax to within nine points at 49-40 with less than two minutes to go but Barstad’s deuce and two free tosses finished things off for the Vikings in the 11-point loss.
Barstad led the Vikings with 15 points while Shipman added 12. Burcham-Scofield tacked on eight, Best six, and Bowe three. Colfax was 15-for-23 at the foul stripe with three triples in the game.
After the Vikings held Kilboten down in the scoring column in their previous match-up, Kilboten scored 18 points this time including 6-of-10 free tosses. The Panthers were 18-for-28 at the free throw line with seven shots from behind the arc.
The Lady Vikings were in Prairie Farm Monday then returned home Tuesday, February 1 to host Altoona. Boyceville will be in town on Thursday for a conference contest and then next Tuesday. February 8, Colfax visits Spring Valley.