Colfax girls fall to Fall Creek, rebound for D-SC Conference win over Mondovi

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by Marlys Kruger

Sports Correspondent

Playing a Monday night game at Fall Creek February 12, the Colfax girls struggled on both sides of the ball and lost 64-40 in a non-conference game to the Crickets. They finished off the regular season with a Dunn-St. Croix Conference game at home against Mondovi February 15 with a 59-48 win over the Buffalo girls.

Colfax finished 11-3 in conference play, tied with Durand-Arkansaw for second place and behind two-time, undefeated conference champ Elk Mound. The Vikings begin WIAA Division 4 regional play at Grantsburg this Friday night after receiving a first-round bye. Colfax is seeded fifth while Grantsburg is fourth. 

Fall Creek

The Crickets are having a pretty good season to say the least as they were 19-3 when the game began. Their only losses were to undefeated and state-ranked Elk Mound, a solid Durand team and McDonell Central, another state-ranked team. Four of the Vikings ‘losses were to all three of those same teams including Elk Mound twice. 

The Vikings fell behind 8-4 early on before Autumn Niggemann hit a shot in the paint and tacked on the extra free throw, but a pair of turnovers and a three-point shot off the mark by the Vikings allowed the Crickets to score points and jump ahead 14-7. Meadow Keltner was fouled on a three point attempt and went to the line to shoot three free throws and connected on 2-of-3 while McKenna Shipman drained a triple to get the Vikings within two points. Jordyn Bowe dropped in a bucket to knot the score at 14-14 and added another to put the Vikings up 16-14.

Fall Creek dominated the paint and scored three times and added a free toss to pull ahead 21-16 before Bowe knocked down a free throw, but three more Cricket buckets from close range while Shipman had just one allowed Fall Creek to hold a 27-19 halftime advantage.

Shipman scored off an inbounds pass to start the second half while Kaysen Goodell drove through the lane for a layup and the Vikings were within six points down 29-23. But, things went sour after that when the Crickets used a seven-point run to up their lead at 36-23. Shipman finally broke through with a three pointer but the Crickets countered with their own long ball before Jaycey Bowe scored in the lane. 

Goodell dropped in a free toss and Shipman added two more and scored on a drive but the Viking defense was unable to stop Fall Creek from scoring. Down 47-33, the Vikings failed to score on five consecutive possessions which included four turnovers and the deficit widened to 57-33. Goodell hit a pair of free throws but three attempts from behind the arc were off the mark and Sierra Shipman and Clara Hydukovich added buckets to finish off the Viking scoring.

McKenna Shipman hit her scoring average on the button with 14 points to lead the Vikings and had six rebounds. Although the team was 9-for-14 at the foul line, they were just 2-for-19 on three-point attempts and had 14 turnovers in the contest. 

Mondovi

It was senior night for the Lady Vikings Thursday and also their last home game of the season. These two teams always seem to have a physical battle and this game was no exception as there was plenty of aggressive play by both teams on both sides of the court. Goodell started the scoring with one of her patented end to end layups before Mondovi scored the next five points. After senior McKenna Shipman scored the first of her 27 points of the game with a bucket, Goodell added a putback and another driving layup for an 8-8 tie.

Sierra Shipman scored twice in the lane but the Lady Buffs (the name they had on their jerseys) added their own points and pulled ahead 13-12. The teams were exchanging points with Niggemann scoring in the paint for Colfax, McKenna Shipman draining a triple and a Buff fast break knotted it at 17-17. Sierra Shipman drilled her own triple and it stayed 20-19 for several minutes while both teams struggled to get the ball in the basket.

McKenna Shipman finally re-started the Viking engines with a shot in the paint and Brynn Sikora added two points off a fast break layup. Using a little give and go, McKenna Shipman passed to Jeanette Hydukovich who passed back to her for another deuce and it was 28-19 for the Vikings. After a pair of Buffalo free tosses, the local bank opened up with Sierra Shipman banging a three pointer off the backboard to end the first half with the Vikings up 31-21.

Other than a Jeanette Hydukovich shot from the paint, the next few minutes were all Shipman points – both of them. McKenna canned three shots from behind the arc , Sierra added a deuce and another triple and it was 47-24. Goodell added another end-to-end layup and McKenna Shipman put in another bomb for a 52-36 Viking advantage. The Lady Buffs made a run which included three triples and with around six minutes left, the Viking lead was only 52-45. 

After a McKenna Shipman free toss, her teammates continued to feed her the ball. Keltner zipped her a long pass and she canned another trey and Goodell found her open under the hoop for two more points to make it 58-48 with three minutes left. The Buffs missed on their only shot during that time and after the Vikings went into a stall, Mondovi fouled and Jaycey Bowe finished off the scoring with a free toss.

The Shipman sisters combined for 42 of the Colfax points and made all nine of the team’s three-point shots. McKenna finished with 27 points with six triples and sophomore Sierra ended with 15 points and three treys. Goodell added 10 points to finish in double figures with three assists and Keltner collected four assists. McKenna Shipman picked up 11 rebounds and Sikora grabbed seven while Hydukovich played a solid defense with six blocked shots. The Vikings were 2-for-10 at the foul line.

Mondovi drilled eight triples and were 8-for-14 at the charity stripe. They were led by Ava Gray with 18 points and Amber Lund with 17.