Colfax girls’ basketball earns fourth straight regional crown

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By Amber Hayden

COLFAX — For the Colfax girls’ basketball team, the opportunity for a regional title came to an exciting and satisfying conclusion last Saturday evening, February 29 at its home hardwood. The top-seeded Lady Vikings captured their fourth WIAA Division 4 Regional crown in as many years, a feat Colfax has not accomplished since a similar run from 1996-99. The Lady Vikes took the crown with a convincing 75-47 victory over the fourth-seeded Lady Loggers of Phillips.

Colfax reached the regional final thanks to a blowout the previous evening at home against #8 Shell Lake.

That contest was a runaway win for the Vikings as they shellacked the visiting Shell Lake Lakers by 56 points. With 16 players earning minutes and 13 of them scoring points in the WIAA Division 4 Regional semifinal, Colfax bolted to a lopsided 80-24 victory in the Friday, February 28 contest.

The regional title game, played Saturday, February 29, was more of a challenge for Colfax as the Phillips Loggers’ sophomore, Jada Eggebrecht, was just 12 points away from reaching a 1,000 points in her career. The Vikings were aware of how many points were needed by Eggebrecht and had Morgan Schleusner and Addy Olson defending her throughout the night. While Eggebrecht did breach the 1,000-point plateau, Colfax battled well on both ends of the court all evening and carried another regional plaque off the floor with a 28-point win.

Saturday’s win over Phillips not only earned the Vikings another piece of regional hardware but a fourth straight berth in the sectional tournament which features three of Division 4’s top ten ranked teams.

Colfax, currently 21-3 and ranked fifth in the most recent coaches poll on wissports.net, will compete at Chetek-Weyerhauser High School in Chetek tomorrow evening, Thursday, March 5, against Unity (20-3) in a WIAA Division 4 Sectional semifinal. The Eagles finished second to St. Croix Falls in the Lakeland West conference.

The other sectional semifinal, being played that same evening at Eau Claire Memorial, features two-time state runner-up and third-ranked Melrose-Mindoro versus eighth-ranked Neillsville. The two winners will advance to the sectional championship, which is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. Saturday evening, March 7 at Colfax to battle for the title and berth in the state tournament to be held March 12-14 in Green Bay. The contest would likely be moved to a neutral site should the Vikings win its bracket.

Shell Lake

The man-to-man defense and full court pressure of the Colfax girls’ basketball team proved to be too much for the Shell Lake Lakers on Friday evening, as the Vikings took a big win via a score of 80-24.

“I knew we were more talented and experienced than Shell Lake, to their credit they tried hard but we have way more talent,” said head coach Joe Doucette. “We wanted to go out and take care of business and we did.”

Kameri Meredith kicked things off with a quick two points in the first half with 17:15 left on the clock, but less than a minute later the Lakers were on the board with two points of their own from a double scored by Tayla Lundberg.

But the five steals, in the opening minutes, allowed Colfax to widen the lead and filter in a majority of the bench players.

Taylor Irwin and Madison Barstad came into the game and were able to score 16 of their 18 points in the first eighteen minutes of play. Irwin had four doubles and was one-for-one at the line and Barstad had two doubles, a trey, and was two-for-two at the foul line.

“We got to play a ton of kids and stay healthy,” said Doucette. I thought we moved the ball well all night against their zone and shooting is contagious.”

Going into halftime, Colfax found itself up 45-14, and Doucette let his starting five know they would get a single minute to play in the second half in order to rest up for the game the following day.

Abby Irwin and Bailey Bradford came in for Colfax in the remaining five minutes of the game and were able to score 11 points off of three triples and a double.

Colfax outscored Shell Lake 35-10 in the second half.

But despite the Vikings winning the game, fans and players cheered on the Lakers with each basket they made.

“I think if we defend and rebound like we are capable of we always have a great chance to win,” stated Doucette.

Colfax (80)

FG-FT-F-TP: T. Irwin 4-1-0-9, M. Schleusner 3-0-0-6, J. Bowe 1-0-0-3, K. Meredith 4-1-0-9, M. Harmon 3-0-0-9, M. Barstad 3-2-1-9, A. Olson 1-0-3-3, S. Wilson 2-2-1-7, J. Bowe 0-1-3-3, A. Olson 1-0-1-3, R. Scharlau 4-0-2-8, B. Bradford 2-0-0-6, A. Irwin 2-0-0-5. Totals 31-6-12-80.

Shell Lake (24)

FG-FT-F-TP: M. Bohl 0-1-1-1, C. Skattebo 0-2-0-2, A. Schroeder 3-0-3-7, B. Clark 0-4-2-4, T. Lundberg 2-2-0-6, K. Melton 2-0-1-4. Total 7-9-10-24.

Colfax​ 45 35 – 80
Shel Lake​ 14 10 – 24

3-point goals: Colfax: J. Bowe, M. Harmon (3),  M. Barstad, A. Olson, S. Wilson, J. Bowe, A. Olson, B. Bradford (2), A. Irwin; Shell Lake: A. Schroeder.

Phillips

With a regional title on the line, the Colfax Lady Vikes came to play as they took the win over the Phillips Loggers, 75-47.

“We knew Phillips was pretty good and we would have to defend and rebound,” coach Doucette explained. “We knew we had to control their two stars and for the most part we did.”

Kameri Meredith started it off for Colfax as she went underneath for two. She missed her first two tries, but was able to grab the rebound and finally sink it through the net.

Colfax went on a seven-point run before the Loggers Brianna Guzinski would be sent to the line and go one-for-two.

Going into the game, the Lady Vikes were also aware of Phillips’ Jada Eggebrecht’s goal to score at least 12 points to hit 1,000. So, Coach Doucette kept his toughest defenders, Morgan Schleusner and Addy Olson, on Eggebrecht to try to slow her down.

“I thought Morgan and Addy did a great job running our offense and staying in front of their star,” said Doucette.

Despite the defensive effort, Eggebrecht reached her goal and finished with 25 points.

Schleusner finished the night three-for-four at the line and three steals, and Olson had a lone trey and three assists.

But, stepping up in a big way for Colfax was sophomore Madison Barstad as she earned a career high 16 points, and she was strong from outside the arc as she went four-for-five from the three point line.

“For the senior class to win four regional titles is a great accomplishment and we have only done that once before in 1996-99,” Doucette explained. “I have a ton of respect for the senior class and I know that they would love to keep playing.”

Kameri Meredith and Rachel Scharlau were the shining stars for Colfax on Saturday, between the pair they had 48 points. Meredith had five doubles, a triple, and was eight-for-eight from the line, and Scharlau earned a career-high 27 points with ten doubles, a pair of threes, and a single foul shot to lead all scorers in the regional championship game.

“We are just going to work harder to keep playing,” said Scharlau.

Scharlau and Meredith also had a double double, with Scharlau rebounding for ten and Meredith rebounding for 11.

“Everybody who played helped, and our younger kids did a great job in practice as the scout team,” said Doucette. “Thursday we will defend, rebound, and play together.”

Colfax, who led by 13 points at the intermission (32-19), extended its advantage throughout the second half and finished by outscoring the Loggers 43-28 in the final 18 minutes of play.

Colfax (75)

FG-FT-F-TP: M. Schleusner 0-3-2-3, K. Meredith 6-8-3-21, M. Barstad 5-2-2-16, A. Olson 1-0-1-3, S. Wilson 2-0-3-5, R. Scharlau 12-1-4-27. Totals 26-14-20-75.

Phillips (47)

FG-FT-F-TP: J. Welk 3-0-4-7, T. Haubert 0-1-2-1, R. Callow 2-4-1-8, J. Eggebrecht 7-8-1-25, B. Guzinski 0-2-4-2, K. Welk 0-1-3-1, E. Schluter 1-1-3-3. Total 13-17-19-47.

Colfax​ 32 43 – 75

Phillips​ 19 28 – 47

3-point goals: Colfax: K. Meredith, M. Barstad (4), A. Olson, S. Wilson, R. Scharlau (2); Phillips: J. Welk, J. Eggebrecht (3).