Colfax beats Elk Mound girls in battle for D-SC Conference lead
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
COLFAX SOPHOMORE Jeanette Hydukovich (#40) scored this layup during the first half of the Vikings’ home game gainst Elk Mound February 11. Hydukovich finished with eight points to help the Vikings to a 50-29 win and sweep over the Mounders in what was a battle for first place in the Dunn-St. Croix. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
by Marlys Kruger
Sports Correspondent
COLFAX — When the Colfax and Elk Mound girls faced off in the nearly packed Vikings’ gym this past Friday evening, February 11, both teams had a 10-1 record in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play.
With Durand one game behind and the Mounders and the Vikings having two more conference games, this was a pivotal game for whoever was going to take over the conference lead. With the sectional seeding meeting being done all by computer by the WIAA two days later, every game and every win against top teams is taken into consideration to decide how each team is seeded. The Mounders were 17-4 and the Vikings 19-2 so a win by either team would certainly improve their chance for a higher seed.
On this night however, it was the Vikings who came out with the most energy and effort and they used that to stake an early 17-3 lead and didn’t let up en route to a 50-29 win and regular-season sweep over the Mounders.
Emilee Burcham-Scofield started things off with a bucket which turned out to be the first of her game high 17 points for the Vikings.
It took the Mounders four minutes to put a point up when Tori Blaskowski hit a free throw. After Jasmine Best canned a pair of free throws for Colfax, Olivia Schreiber countered with a bucket but that’s when the Vikings went on their scoring spurt.
Jeanette Hydukovich hit from the paint, and Madison Barstad wound up her throwing arm, and looking like that newly named MVP from a certain NFL team, zipped a pass all the way across the court and found Aynsley Olson in full stride who laid the ball in the hoop. Hydukovich scored off an offensive rebound, Olson drove the baseline for two, Hydukovich scored on a fast break and Burcham-Scofield buried a three pointer for a 17-3 advantage.
MOUNDERS’ FRESHMAN Ellie Schiszik looked to dribble past Vikings’ defender Emilee Burcham-Scofield during a February 11 girls’ basketball showdown in Colfax. Schiszik finished with six points as the Mounders lost the game 50-29. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
During the run, the Mounders were trying to score points from behind the arc, but as the saying goes, teams can live or die by three-point shooting. The latter was the case for Elk Mound as they launched 11 long range shots in the half and didn’t find the mark on any of them. In fact, the rest of their first half points came from a bucket and free throw from Stella Rhude to halt the Colfax run and shots by Schreiber, Rhude, and Blaskowski along with a Lydia Levra free throw.
The Vikings were tacking on points with Burcham-Scofield scoring from the lane twice, Molly Heidorn canned a triple, Hydukovich added a bucket, and Olson a free toss and the teams went to the locker room with the Vikings up 27-11.
“I challenged our girls to be ready to play from the start,” Colfax coach Courtney Sarauer said. “We have had some slow starts before and we knew we couldn’t have that against Elk Mound. We needed to make them work for everything,” she added.
DRIVING the lane for two of her game-high 17 points agaisnt Elk Mound was Vikings’ senior Emilee Burcham-Scofield (#24). Colfax won the February 11 contest 50-29 to sweep the Mounders and retain first place in the conference standings. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Burcham-Scofield didn’t waste any time adding to the lead with a shot from the paint to start the second half. McKenna Shipman, the Viking’s leading scorer who was held scoreless by the Mounder defense in the first half, got on the board with a shot from the elbow for a 31-21 Colfax advantage.
Elk Mound freshman and leading scorer for the team, Ellie Schiszik, who has drained 63 triples already this year, finally got a clean look at the hoop and canned a trey.
After another fast break bucket by Burcham-Scofield, the Mounders connected for six points with Blaskowski and Rhude both draining a pair of free tosses and Schiszik scoring from close range to make things interesting as they cut the deficit to 13, down 33-20.
Olson stopped the streak with a fast break layup and the Mounders went cold from the field for the next few minutes, missing two free throws and several three-point attempts.
Exactly halfway through the second half, Brooke Emery knocked down two free tosses for Elk Mound but those were quickly countered by Burcham-Scofield’s deuce and free throw, and when Best hit from the top of the key, it was 40-24 in the Vikings’ favor.
MOUDNERS TOP point-getter Tori Blaskowski (#23) went airborne to sink two of her team-leading nine points in a February 11 girls’ Dunn-St. Croix basketball gaem played in Colfax. The Vikings defeated the Mounders 50-29 in a battle for first place. —photo by Shawn DeWitt
Shipman powered her way to the hoop twice and after the Mounders committed their seventh team foul, Colfax finished off their scoring from the free throw line. Burcham-Scofield concluded her night with a free toss and Jillian Bowe knocked down five of them to end the Colfax scoring, while Blaskowski dropped in a final deuce for Elk Mound.
“We dug ourselves a pretty big hole to start the game and against a team like Colfax, it’s pretty hard to get out of it,” Mounder coach Jordan Kongshaug said. “A lot of our scoring comes from around the perimeter and we didn’t get many clear shots. When we did, we couldn’t make them. It just wasn’t our night,” he concluded.
Burcham-Scofield was the only Viking in double digit scoring with her 17 points while Hydukovich added eight, Olson seven, Shipman six, Bowe five, Best four, and Heidorn three. Colfax was 10-for-19 at the charity stripe with two triples.
Elk Mound was led by Blaskowski with nine points along with six from Schiszik (who was covered like a wet blanket by Burcham-Scofield most of the game), five from Rhude, four each by Emery and Schreiber, and one by Levra. As a team, the Mounders made 12-of-21 free throws with Emery going 4-for-4 at the line.
“Our whole team stepped up for this win,” coach Sarauer said after the contest. “Emilee stepped up in the scoring when McKenna was getting shut down the first half. But, McKenna and Madison Barstad were working very hard defensively and held their other two top scorers down most of the game,” she concluded.
Colfax (11-1, 20-2) will wrap up the final week of the regular season with consecutive games against Elmwood/Plum City. They played the Wolves in Elmwood this past Monday and will host on Thursday, February 17.
Elk Mound (10-2, 17-5), meanwhile, played in Durand on Monday and travel to Spring Valley on Thursday.