Colfax girls begin D-SC Conference basketball play with one win, one loss

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

It wasn’t the greatest start in Dunn-St. Croix Conference play for the Colfax girls’ basketball team when they  hosted the Durand Panthers December 5. Difficulty hitting big shots at the right time played a big part in the 44-36 loss to the Panthers. They bounced back against a much improved Boyceville team three days later and won on the road against the Bulldogs 68-23. 

Colfax is now 3-4 overall and 1-1 in conference play. The Vikings host Spring Valley Thursday and travel to Division 1 Hudson Saturday for a non-conference game.

Durand

Colfax and Durand tied for second place in the D-SC a year ago behind unbeaten Elk Mound. The Panthers started this game off by knocking down three of their eight three-point shots of the game in the first few minutes for a 9-4 lead.

Jada Anderson hit two free throws for the Vikings but it took over five minutes before McKenna Shipman scored the first field goal for the team. After Shipman added a free toss and Jeanette Hydukovich scored in the paint, Durand added their own points and pulled out to a 15-7 advantage. Shipman drained a triple and Brynn Sikora scored on a drive through the lane but with help from another long ball, the Panthers were ahead 20-12 at halftime.

The Viking defense did their job as usual, coming up with some blocked shots and steals, and after Kaysen Goodell canned a pair of free tosses and Jordyn Bowe nailed a triple, the Vikings were closer, down 22-17. But another shot from long range upped the Panther lead, and after Goodell scored in the lane, Durand hit yet another three ball for a 28-19 advantage.

The Vikings made their run as everyone expected when Bowe canned her second trey, Autumn Niggemann scored on a short jumper, Sikora added a put back and Sierra Shipman banged in a shot from behind the arc to pull the Vikings to within a point, down 30-29. A few seconds later, Bowe drained a couple of free tosses to put the Vikings up by a point, but Durand responded with a free throw for a 31-31 tie. McKenna Shipman knocked down a pair of freebies but another Panther triple put them back up 34-33. Sikora changed the lead again when she rebounded her own miss and scored. And once again Durand regained the lead with yet another three-point shot.

Bowe hit a free throw, but as it turned out, that would be the final point of the game for the Vikings. Having committed their seventh team foul with around seven minutes to go and their tenth foul in the last couple of minutes, the Panthers went to the foul line four times on the double bonus in the last three minutes and put the game away with a 6-for-7 performance.

Colfax was off the mark on a trio of shots from behind the arc and on a put back during that time and couldn’t make up the difference.

Bowe was high scorer for the Vikings with nine points on two triples and 3-of-4 at the charity stripe. McKenna Shipman was held under her scoring average of 12 points a game, scoring just eight in the contest while Sikora added six points. Colfax was 10-for-12 at the foul line with four triples. Emma Hoyt led the Panthers with 14 points with four of the eight shots from long range and Durand was 9-for-12 at the charity stripe.

Boyceville

The glory days the Bulldogs had back in the early 2000s seem to be behind them, especially when it comes to playing the Vikings. Hannah Dunn started the game with a three-point shot for a 3-0 Bulldog lead, but Meadow Keltner made sure that lead didn’t last as she canned her own triple just seconds later to knot things up. That turned out to be the only lead of the game for Boyceville as the Vikings used a 14 point run to pull ahead 17-3.

Sikora scored on a putback after Boyceville dropped in a bucket and the Vikings used their defense to turn into offense. After a series of steals, Hydukovich hit a jumper, Anderson scored on a fast break layup, Hydukovich added another bucket on a put back and Goodell added another fast break layup to lead the Vikings into a 35-13 halftime lead.

Colfax opened the second half with a 7-0 run on a McKenna Shipman shot in the lane, Keltner drained another triple and Hydukovich hit a pair of free throws to extend their lead to 42-13. Chelsi Holden broke the run with a free throw for Boyceville, but

Niggemann responded with a shot from behind the arc, Sikora hit a short jumper and Niggemann drove through the lane for a bucket for a 49-14 advantage.

Goodell put on a show by scoring six of the Vikings next eight points, all from in the paint for a 57-19 lead. With a running clock due to the large point difference, Sierra Shipman made the most of the last four minutes by scoring eight points on three straight Colfax possessions. She started with a triple, hit a shot in the lane, and ended her run with another three pointer. With most of the Colfax junior varsity now in the game, Leila Hurlburt finished off the game with a shot from behind the arc, which happened to be her first varsity points.

Goodell led the Vikings with 12 points, McKenna Shipman added 11, Hydukovich and Sierra Shipman both had 10 and Niggemann tacked on eight. Colfax connected on seven triples and went 7-for-10 at the foul stripe. The Bulldogs leading scorer was Dunn with nine points and her team made two shots from long range and didn’t help themselves, making just 7-of-16 free throws.